Worship, Interrupted

There are some names you just don’t want to remember.

There are some stories you just wish you’d never heard.

But once you have, you can’t take it back.

It’s like the first time I saw someone’s finger cut off, or an eyeball poked with a stick. It’s horrible. But you just can’t take it back.

The story of Uzzah in I Chronicles 13 is one such story. You try to shove it into a corner of your mind. You hope no one in your small group ever brings it up. You tell yourself God was having a bad day when it happened.

But deep deep down, when you stop long enough to think about it, it freaks you out.

And it should.

The people of Israel thought they were doing the right thing. They had gotten together with King David in vs.14 and agreed to bring the ark back home. But they forgot to ask God’s opinion on the matter. And they didn’t go about it God’s way. Still – David was so excited about it, he couldn’t control worshiping with all of his might. It was supposed to be a great day.

Instead, it ended in death.

And not just any death, but a seemingly petty death at that. I mean, all the guy did was touch the ark to keep it from falling. It wasn’t like he was addicted to porn or killed someone.

He just touched the ark.

Can someone stop the tape for a second? Can we go over what happened again? Did I miss something? There’s got to have been more to it.

No. There it is in slow motion. The people of Israel wanted to move the ark to the city of David. The ark was placed on a carty thing. Soon the party started, and that’s when everything fell apart. The ox stumbled. The ark tipped over the edge of the carty thing, and poor Uzzah stuck his hand out to keep the ark from falling.

And God killed him.

In I Chronicles 13:11 it says that when David saw it, he was “angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah”. How would you like God to break out against you? Yikes.

Then in vs.13 it says that “David was afraid of God that day”. That’s a bit more like it. I’m pretty sure I’m scared reading it.

What kind of God kills a guy for touching an ark – accidentally? What kind of God interrupts one of the greatest worship services of all times?

I’ll tell you what kind of God interrupts worship.

• He’s a God who cares more about inward holiness than outward rejoicing.

• He’s a God who cares about obedience in little things as well as big ones.

• He’s a God who cares more about people seeking His approval than simply each others’.

We worship a Holy God. We worship a God who is serious about His word, a God who is high and lifted up. We worship a God we haven’t begun to understand, a God we don’t fear near enough, a God of our own choosing.

Most of us would like to think that God would have spared Uzzah. Isn’t he supposed to be merciful and forgiving, after all? We can spend the rest of our lives angry at God for killing our Uzzahs, or we can do what David did.

In I Chronicles 15, in great fear and humility, he tried again. But this time around, he got it right. This time around David danced so hard he was accused of being undignified.

Of course David understood something by now. He understood that nothing could ever hinder his passion for this God. He understood that he could never be undignified enough for this God.

He understood the truth about God.

What about you? Is God pleased with your worship?

Or is there a risk He might interrupt it?

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