(I Chr. 13)
Ever set out to do something for God, only to find out that you miserably failed?
You had a noble end in mind, and what you did, you were doing for God. But He just did not seem to bless your efforts. In fact, He seemed to indicate displeasure with you, rather than pleasure! Join the club and meet someone who experienced the same frustrations, King David.
He knew the feeling! He had set out to do a worthy thing: move the ark of the covenant back to the city of David, Jerusalem. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, it was a very spiritual and noteworthy desire; but before it was over, David threw up his hands in despair and said, “How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?” Ever been there, asking “What am I doing here?” “Why doesn’t God bless what I am doing?” “What’s the problem here, anyway?”
You may have asked similar questions. I surely have.
Well, in David’s case, the problem wasn’t that he had not sought counsel, nor that he was not sincere in his effort, nor that he lacked enthusiasm. But, as the passage reveals, there were some major problems that caused David to fail in this noble mission:
- Wrong motive (I Chr. 13:12). Notice David’s lament: “How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?” One way to assure failure in any effort to serve God is to somehow believe the result intended is in any way “for me.” Paul reminds us that “whether ye eat, therefore, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” (I Cor. 10:31) John the Baptist set the standard: “I must decrease; He must increase.” (John 3:30) H. C. Morrison (1857-1942)—a Methodist evangelist and president of Asbury College—said, “We are foolish when we want to conquer the world; we are wise when we want to conquer self.” We, no doubt like David, will deal with that “self” problem until we no longer draw a breath. God had to cripple the supplanter Jacob before He could use him. David had to learn that moving God’s ark was not about “me,” but all about God and His glory.
- Wrong man (I Chr. 13:7, 15:5-13). At the first attempt to move the ark, we are simply told that Ahio drove the cart. In chapter 15, however—to make the second and successful attempt at moving the ark—David assembled all the Levites, and from them he carefully instructed specific priests to move the ark, indicating that “because ye did not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the order due.” (I Chr. 15:13-15)
- Wrong method. God had instructed the Israelites on the right method of moving the ark. (Numbers 4:15) The sons of Kohath were to bear the ark and “they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die.” I Chr. 15 demonstrates that in moving the ark, or attempting to, David ignored Numbers 4:15 and its clear instruction. Because of that disregard of God’s specific word about the right method of moving the sacred furniture, a man died. There is a right way to serve God, and there is a way that seems right unto man—but “the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Provs. 14:12)
God has given us a task, the Great Commission. He has given us a manual on missionary methods. We can go to the world or we can go to God’s Word. Paul knew that doing things the right way was so important that he wrote to Timothy “that thou mayest know how thou ought to behave thyself in the house of God.” (I Tim. 3:15) We must know what God says about how to do His work, the methodology. This principle would apply to soul-winning, music, dress, discipline, church polity, Christian education, and more. Paul would also write to Titus that he had left Titus in Crete to “set in order the things that are wanting.” (Tit.1:5)
I, for one, could give many a testimony of my attempts through 50 years of ministry of doing things that seemed logical, but upon further examination were not Biblical. God worked on me through various means to get things set in order. The earliest New Testament church learned the lesson the hard way, and to solve it, deacons were appointed to serve widows, for, the twelve affirmed, and rightly so, that “…it is not reason that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables.” (Acts 6:2) There is a right way and a wrong way. The Jerusalem church discovered that when the wrong was righted, “the Word of God increased, and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly.” (Acts 6:7)
God’s ministry—done with a pure motive, by the right man, using biblical methods—will assure those involved in ministry in 2026 of the blessings of our great God. When the second attempt to move the ark was done in the way that God had prescribed, the Israelites succeeded. We read: “Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps.” (I Chr. 15:28). There was great rejoicing through obedience, resulting in God’s approval and blessings, and in praise raised to God.
Can we do any less today as we attempt to fulfill His great commission in these last days?
“If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.” (Gen.4:7)