But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9.

Do you long for God?

We know that David loved God deeply. His heart was moved to bring the ark of God back to them. Why? For we did not inquire of it during the reign of Saul. v. 3. (In the notes below: or we neglected). And yet, in this Chapter, 1 Chronicles 13, David conferred with each of his officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds…and to the whole assembly of Israel. v. 1-2. It doesn’t say he conferred with God. Everyone else agreed and were glad the ark would be brought to Jerusalem. So they put it on a new cart and were celebrating with all their might. The oxen stumbled. Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark, because the oxen stumbled. The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God. v. 9-10. Can you imagine all celebrating stopped completely. David was angry. Then David was afraid. He must have realized they were doing this wrong. He took the ark to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house for three months, and the Lord blessed his household and everything he had. v. 14.

When the ark was built God gave very specific instructions in how the ark was to be moved (Numbers 4:5-15). Not on a cart. Can you imagine the household of Obed-Edom receiving the ark and wondering what would happen? Can you imagine the people all standing at a distance watching?

What about us? Do we ever imagine what would happen if we received God in our lives? Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:10. God’s mercy represented beautifully then by the ark is living and active within us. Not an object to be carried on a cart or on the shoulders of others. God Himself calls us out of darkness and into His wonderful light and we are His people deeply loved. We can listen to Him. Begin a journey with Him and your very soul will be filled with longing and praise and peace. One day we will all of us rejoice together and Uzzah will be there…Obed-Edom will be there…David will be there…and most importantly, so will God – Father, Son, Spirit – be there with all of us rejoicing. Can you imagine!