The great theologian Augustine prayed famously, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” King David would have been the first to affirm Augustine’s observation about human nature in general and his own longings. He begins Psalm 63 with the words. You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you. David knew that he was created to enjoy a love relationship with God. But the event from David’s life that we study in this episode reveals David learning an important lesson about God’s presence: You can’t enjoy that presence if you ignore the holiness of God.
As you know, the foundation of this podcast is the belief that God designed men to be mission-focused. If we capture men’s hearts with the greatness of our mission as Christ-followers, men are hard-wired to sacrifice what it takes to accomplish that mission. But most Christian men have a fuzzy view of what that mission is.
Certainly, that was the case for me. When I began a career as a pastor and church planter, I realized that I could too narrowly define my mission as the success of the church I was planting, instead of defining my mission as dying to myself to meet my wife’s needs, devoting myself to helping my kids reach their full potential, glorifying God through the spiritual fruit of my attitudes, and sharing Christ with a neighbor who never ends up coming to my church. I knew that the best safeguard against becoming a workaholic pastor was to define my mission holistically as a Christ-follower. So, I retreated with the Lord and studied every passage I could find that addresses our mission. I discovered that every one of these numerous descriptions can be placed into one of three categories. First and foremost, we are called TO Christ to enjoy a love relationship with him. Second, we are called TO BE LIKE Christ, to exhibit Christ-like attitudes. Third, we are called TO EXERCISE DOMINION for Christ, i.e. to spread his kingdom rule over ever sphere of human life. In thirty years of helping men stay focused on their mission, I’ve never been able to improve upon this three-fold understanding of our call from Jesus.
Today’s episode addressed the first component of our mission—called TO Christ to enjoy a love relationship with him. This mission imperative was summarized by Jesus as the Great Commandment. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mk 12:30). God’s commands to us are always for our benefit. Since we were created FOR a personal, love-relationship with God, Jesus commands what is best for us. “Love the LORD your God,” says Jesus, “That is your mission.” God’s presence in our lives is what Jesus’ atonement for our sins has accomplished both now and for eternity. The Father sent Jesus to remove the guilt that separated us from him so that we could experience a personal relationship with him. Scripture uses metaphors of the two closest human relationships that exist—that of a husband’s delight in his bride and of a father’s delight in his child to describe what Christ’s death has accomplished. Before we look at what David learned about God’s presence with him, let’s think about the significance of God’s personal presence in our lives.
GOD’S PRESENCE IN OUR LIVES MEANS EVERYTHING TO US
A. God’s presence with us completes us. We were created FOR a relationship with God, which is only possible because we, unlike the rest of creation, are made in his image. We have the spiritual and moral capacity to know and love God, which no other creature has. Blaise Paschal described this heart hunger for fulfillment as “a God-shaped-vacuum.” Fallen human nature seeks to fill that vacuum with false gods that fail to fill a vacuum that only God truly can. David expresses this yearning in Psalm 63:1-2, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
B. God’s presence fills our love tank. We are not designed to walk through the ups and downs of life alone. As the space-walking astronaut outside the space capsule needs to be attached through an oxygen line to the ship, humans need a constant supply of love. Though sin broke the lifeline, the cross restores it. We can breathe in and out companionship with the God who loves us, just as Adam and Eve walked with God in Eden in the cool of the day. As we saw last week, David constantly poured out his heart to God knowing that what he was feeling was understood. Later, Scripture would reinforce this one-on-one privilege, urging us to draw near to Jesus, our Great High Priest. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:15). Although Scripture tells us that we need companionship with humans, not just God, the significance of this life-transforming intake of God’s love is hard to overstate. Instead of being unconsciously impelled to have to vent our experiences, feelings, and opinions in conversations with others, Christians with love tanks filled through fellowship with God are released from self-preoccupation to take an interest in others, listening to their experiences, feelings, and opinions. David’s Psalm 63 words to describe his love tank being filled were in verse 3, Your constant love is better than life.
C. God’s presence reinvigorates our soul. God did not create us to be bored. He gave us hearts with passions that need to be ignited. He gave us hearts that need to be reinvigorated. In my work with guys struggling with porn, we recognize that lust often strikes a bored heart. The very nature of sexual arousal is to get our hearts beating fast. God knows that the merging of two lives together in marriage requires enormous work and self-denial. So, he gives couples the thrill of sex—not always a twenty-one-gun salute but nevertheless a thrilling experience of explosive pleasure that gets the heart racing. Paul seems to be aware of the boredom vulnerability of our heart, which exposes us to sexual temptation. He both urges couples to keep satisfying their spouses sexual cravings and points out that there is a greater thrill for Christians—the thrill of knowing and being loved by the God of the universe. “You were made for God and God is the answer to your deepest longings” (1 Cor 6:13). David compares the pleasure of praising God to other great pleasures in life when he says, My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips (vs 7).
D. God’s presence gives us daily connection to our purpose. What a privilege it is to get up in the morning and say, “Good morning, Lord. How can I honor you today?” How awesome to talk with my CO throughout the day about his mission for me, knowing that HIS MISSION MATTERS ETERNALLY. Everyday, God’s presence in our lives reminds us of our calling to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, i.e. to surrender to him with my heart allegiance, with my inner attitudes—and by seeking to accomplish his agenda in every sphere of my life in all the spheres where he has given me influence. Notice David’s sense of purpose in the first verse of Psalm 63. O God, you are my God; earnestly I SEEK you.
E. God’s presence in our lives is a source of strength. It is walking with God personally all day long that provides the instinct to go to God for help. Both externally, because of the relentless demands made upon us, and internally, because of inner brokenness and reflexive wrong attitudes, the presence of God with us is the avenue to the strength we need. We are walking daily with the one who is the Great High Priest, so it is natural to with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:16). In Psalm 63, David refers to constantly depending upon God for help in verses 7-8. for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
GOD’S PRESENCE IN THE OT
The Bible is God’s story of the four chapters of the Gospel of Jesus, creation, fall, redemption, restoration. Chapter one, creation, shows Adam and Eve designed FOR a personal relationship with God. But as we all know in chapter two of the Gospel story (fall), Adam and Eve’s rebellion caused them to be thrown out of the Garden and the presence of God. In Genesis 12 God begins the process of redeeming his people from sin and restoring them to intimacy with him by establishing a covenant of belonging with Abraham and his children summarized in the phrase “I will be your god, and you shall be my people.” 400 years later Moses continues to foreshadow this restoration to his presence by establishing the Priesthood and building the tabernacle. Inside this portable, roofless tent was the place where sacrifices were made for sin. The innermost portion, called the Holy of Holies, contained the Ark of the Covenant, a wooden chest, overlaid with gold which was the mercy seat, the throne on which Yahweh sat. Two gold cherubim faced each other with their wings covering the mercy seat. On it the shekinah glory cloud was seen to dwell during the day and the pillar of fire at night.
When it comes to our topic, the presence of God, the tabernacle communicated two truths that were in some ways a paradox. On the one hand, the portable nature of the tabernacle communicated that God was with his covenant people wherever they went. The shekinah glory cloud led them by day and pilar of fire by night. The cloud and fire hovered between them and the Egyptian army protecting them before God parted the Red Sea. When Israel set up camp, the cloud and pilar of fire visibly dwelt over the Ark of the Covenant. On the other hand, the entire priestly system instituted by Moses was a divinely inspired drama to communicate that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin and without remission of sin, no one could enter the holy presence of God.
All this is background for 2 Samuel 6. As we come to this chapter, David has defeated the Jebusites, taken Jerusalem as his capital, and completed the construction of his palace there. The presence of God meant as much to David and his kingdom as it does to us. So, he decides to bring it to Jerusalem.
David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him …. to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim. And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, with the ark of God…And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.
And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah… David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” So David was not willing to take the ark of the Lord into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
So, David declares a national holiday and puts together the parade to beat all parades. The whole nation lines the streets for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. The popcorn and hotdog venders are making a killing. The news media has its cameras stationed all along the parade route. Bret Baier has done an interview with Abinadab, the man who stored the ark. As the parade makes its way to Jerusalem you hear it coming from miles away—hundreds upon hundreds of cymbals crashing, tambourines shaking, trumpets blaring. The King, himself, leads the parade whooping it up, running, jumping, acting like a mad man. Then, sitting on a brand-new oxcart you see it, the throne of Yahweh, in all its regal splendor, its gold cherubim ablaze in the sun. Behind it are thirty thousand top war heroes in David’s army, decked out in their dress blues, boots polished to a spit shine, swords glistening in the sun. Closer and closer they come, the volume of the crowd nearly deafening you. You notice the oxcart tip to the one side slightly and suddenly a hush comes over the crowd. David wonders what’s wrong. He turns back and begins to run towards Uzzah who is on the ground. When he gets there, Uzzah is not breathing. An onlooker tells David, “He reached up, took hold of the ark, and instantly fell to the ground dead.” Now David is angry. He’s not sure who to be angry at. Uzzah? God? Himself? David continues on to his palace in Jerusalem and spends three months figuring out what went wrong.
THE LESSON DAVID LEARNED: YOU CANNOT EXPEREINCE GOD’S PRESENCE AND IGNORE GOD’S HOLINESS
The explanation for the disastrous death of Uzzah was that David, in seeking the Lord’s presence in Jerusalem, failed to take into account the most fundamental characteristic of God—his holiness.
A. David discovered that, because of God’s holiness, God had given Moses very specific instructions about how to move the Ark that were ignored by the priests. It was NEVER to be touched. The Ark had rings at each of the four corners through which two poles were to be inserted by the two Kohathites carrying the ark by the poles. The Ark should never have been on the cart.
B. The lesson is that what is unclean cannot be in God’s holy presence and live. That reality had been repeatedly communicated by God to his people.
- When God was in their presence visiting Mount Sinai to write the Ten Commandments with his own finger, the people were warned “Even if a beast touched the mountain it shall be stoned” (Ex 19:16).
- Moses, known as the friend of God, was not permitted to see God’s face. God explaining, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Ex 33:20).
- The only human allowed into the Holy of Holies where the Ark dwelt was the high priest once per year, and then only after he had undergone an elaborate cleansing ritual and made numerous sacrifices for his sins.
- The priests were very aware that God’s holiness could kill the priest if he touched the ark. So, they sewed little bells into the high priests garment and on the Day of Atonement, when he entered the Holy of Holies, they listened for the jingling of those bells so they could tell if he was still alive and moving. If it went quiet, and he were struck dead, they were prepared because they tied a rope around the High Priests leg so that if he were struck dead, they could pull his body out from the Holy of Holies.
C. At the core of Uzzah’s vocation was understanding the holiness of God. Remember Uzzah was a Kohathite. Here is their job description:
This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting: the most holy things. When the camp is to set out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the veil of the screen and cover the ark of the testimony with it. Then they shall put on it a covering of goatskin and spread on top of that a cloth all of blue, and shall put in its poles…. And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die.
The full-time job of everyone in their tribe was the care of the sacred objects kept in the tabernacle. For years, he’d been schooled in the disciplines of his calling. He knew that the cardinal rule in his work was never touch the Ark of the Covenant. Like an electrician for whom the mere touch of the high voltage wire meant certain death, Uzzah, if he had understood God’s holiness as any Kohathite should have, he would have known that touching the Ark meant instant death.
D. Uzzah’s death reveals what real filth is, in they eyes of God. R.C. Sproul writes,
Uzzah assumed that his hand was less polluted than the earth. But it wasn’t the ground or the mud that would desecrate the ark; it was the touch of man. The earth is an obedient creature. It does what God tells it to do. It brings forth its yield in its season. It obeys the laws of nature that God has established. When the temperature falls to a certain point, the ground freezes. When water is added to dust, it becomes mud, just as God designed it. The ground doesn’t commit cosmic treason. There is nothing polluted about the ground. God did not want his holy ark touched by that which is contaminated by evil, that which is in rebellion to him, that which by its ungodly revolt had brought the whole creation to ruin and caused the ground and the sky and waters of the sea to groan together in travail waiting for the day of redemption. Man. It was man’s touch that was forbidden.
THREE TAKE-AWAYS
A. We need to celebrate God’s holiness. This Hebrew word, QUDASH, means to cut, or to separate. Among the implications of this attribute is that God’s moral characteristics are infinitely greater than ours. We may love; but compared to the excellence of God’s love there is a great chasm. God’s goodness is so good, there is a chasm separating it’s moral perfection from human goodness. God is “set apart” from humans in his moral perfections. The consistency of God’s moral perfections is an enormous blessing to us and contrasts to the false God, Allah, who can change his mind and character upon any whim.
B. We need to learn to hate evil. Because God is holy, holiness is required for the health of every component of life on planet earth. Every sin is a step towards destruction. I smile inside at those who are afraid that if we fully understand God’s grace it will lead to sin. Nothing could be further from the truth. The greater my understanding of the depth of my own sin—the heinousness of it, the destruction of it—the more I celebrate grace, being mercifully delivered from the consequences of it. Having been delivered from such tyranny, why would I ever want to pursue such destruction again? Envy of the wicked reveals a very shallow understanding of sin. Sin is the antithesis of LIFE.
C. Reflecting upon God’s holiness ignites our passion to know the Word of God and live it, everyday. Uzzah was part of a tribe that had neglected the clear teaching of Scripture, to their peril. David said to God, With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you (Ps 119:10-11).
For Further Prayerful Thought:
- What does God’s presence in your life mean to you?
- How would you summarize the lesson David learned when Uzzah was struck dead as they moved the Ark to Jerusalem.
- What are your thoughts about remembering the holiness of God in our everyday lives. Why might that be important?
