Not Then, Not Now

Then David again gathered all the elite troops in Israel, 30,000 in all. He led them to Baalah of Judah to bring back the Ark of God, which bears the name of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim. They placed the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it from Abinadab’s house, which was on a hill. Uzzah and Ahio, Abinadab’s sons, were guiding the cart that carried the Ark of God. Ahio walked in front of the Ark. David and all the people of Israel were celebrating before the LORD, singing songs and playing all kinds of musical instruments—lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals. But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out his hand and steadied the Ark of God. Then the LORD’s anger was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him dead because of this. So Uzzah died right there beside the Ark of God. [2 Samuel 6.1-7] 

The story of Uzzah is the flagship story for man "helping" God. In its purest form, Uzzah's story is about idolatry. It is, and always will be, idolatry for any man to ever think he could help God. Any effort of man to "help' God makes God inferior to man thus elevating man above God.

It was not "help" for man to carry the Ark of God on their shoulders utilizing the rings and poles designed for that purpose - it was instead, obedience. It very clearly depicted the weight of God upon His people (subjection to Him) and their obedience to Him and His ways alone.

In contrast, the cart represented the ingenuity of man (starting with the wheel) and man's effort to modernize God's plan with its intended reminder/burden. If carrying the Ark on their shoulders was good, then, surely, carrying it on a cart designed and built by man and pulled by animals, was better... right? Wrong!

God's way is the only way. Man's way, that God detests (remember Uzzah) always defends itself as "helping God." 

Shall we fast forward to how this translates to modern times? Consider debt, insurance, medicine and technology: Christians defend them as "gifts from God" - "modern ways" to realize God's promise to uniquely and distinctly provide for, protect, heal, and generally care for His people. Christians almost unanimously say that God uses debt, insurance, medicine and technology failing to understand that that claim makes God subject to the provisions of debt, insurance, medicine, and technology - idolatry! "Surely," they reason, "God gave man the wisdom and knowledge to develop these industries!" just like God gave man the wisdom and knowledge to develop the wheel... and Uzzah's demise shows us the error of that thought process.

Man's way is debt. But God's Word says:

Fear the LORD, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need. [Psalm 34.9]

Man's way is insurance. But God's Word says: 

I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. [Psalm 121]

Man's way is medicine. But God's Word says: 

He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you.” [Exodus 15.26]

Man's way is technology. But God's Word says: 

The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. [Psalm 28.7] 

Anyone who has ever read the Bible even just a little bit knows that the passages quoted here are merely representative of the entire Bible's theme of God's distinguishing care for His own. But there is another idol - another way of man - that encourages an abstract understanding of the Bible instead of the reality of it...

Man's way is religion. But God's Word says:

What sorrow awaits you who say, “If only the day of the LORD were here!” You have no idea what you are wishing for. That day will bring darkness, not light. In that day you will be like a man who runs from a lion—only to meet a bear. Escaping from the bear, he leans his hand against a wall in his house—and he’s bitten by a snake. Yes, the day of the LORD will be dark and hopeless, without a ray of joy or hope. “I hate all your show and pretense—the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn  assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. “Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, Israel? No, you served your pagan gods—Sakkuth your king god and Kaiwan your star god—the images you made for yourselves. So I will send you into exile, to a land east of Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Heaven’s Armies. [Amos 5.18-27]

Is it any wonder then that Jesus' most defining command speaks of man's own way?

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24 (also, Mark 8.34 & Luke 9.23)]

And yet man's idol of religion has watered down even Jesus' demand reducing Christianity to what it is today: people who claim to be God's, but live by the provisions of the world just like the world but are are "puzzled" and even "angry" (like David) that they suffer just like the world

While the cart in 2 Samuel 6.1-7 seemed like a good (human) idea, the jealous God of the Bible would have nothing to do with man's disobedience and self-sufficiency. Not then, not now.

You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. [Exodus 20.4-6]

Father, may Your people rely only on You. May they distinguish themselves as Yours in way of obedience so that You will distinguish them as Yours in every way of blessing Your Word promises. May Your people see that Jesus demands nothing less. So be it.

The Ultimate End Of Self

I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. [Psalm 121]

Wow, what a declaration! It would seem the person whose help comes from the LORD should fear nothing. But is that the case among "believers" today? I think the answer is sadly, "no."

Once fear is normalized in a society, there is little effort needed to keep it that way. From money to weapons to medicine to insurance, civilized culture today lives in normalized fear. 

How do we escape fear? How do we say what the Psalmist said in Psalm 121 and mean it? How do we get to the point that the mention of death is absolutely of no consequence to us?

Let me answer the last question above with a fact: a dead man is unaffected by death (you can't kill a dead man).

Jesus clued in His followers early on in His ministry:

Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels. [Luke 9.23-26]

The "cross" Jesus mentioned is not a place of spiritual growth. In fact, it is not a place of intense fellowship with God. The cross is not a place of corporate strength. It is not a place where glorious worship abounds. The cross Jesus talked about is a place of death. I say "is" because many of us have come to believe that the cross Jesus mentioned is a thing of the past and so we prefer to say, "the cross was..." The cross Jesus spoke of though is very much with us today because death is still with us today (although few are willing to discuss it at length).

Everything God intended for Jesus to accomplish on earth was accomplished on the Cross. Every miracle He performed and every word Jesus spoke ultimately led to His crucifixion on the Cross. Miracles were not why Jesus came, but they got Him to the Cross. Teaching was not why Jesus came, but it got Him to the Cross. Let's look at a passage some might think refutes this...

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.” [Luke 4.18-19]

Jesus was "sent" to proclaim... to heal... But, Jesus was "anointed" to bring Good News. What a person is "sent" to do is just something they "do." But what a person is "anointed" to do is what they are. Jesus was "anointed" to bring Good News which was "forgiveness of sins for all who repent" (Luke 24.47). And where did that task of forgiveness culminate? On the Cross where Jesus said, "Father, forgive them..."

Don't stop thinking yet...

Our purpose on earth is our own cross. What greater thing on our cross can be accomplished than to forgive as Christ Jesus forgave? There is no greater thing, because there is no greater love than to forgive. But if we fear death, our lives can never attain to that Christ-likeness -  the only Christ-likeness that matters.

So how does this reconcile with Psalm 121? It actually reconciles very well because as long as we understand what we are anointed to do (like Jesus) we understand that our lives exist only to serve His purpose. Nothing will stop that purpose as long as we are dead to ourselves and alive unto His purpose. We can have every confidence that God is the preserver of our lives as our lives are in Christ. Like Jesus, the purpose of our lives is to get to our cross because when we ultimately forgive is when we are ultimately forgiven. Our help to do this comes from the LORD.

I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. [Psalm 121]

Bottom line: God is the One Who watches over us. Why then would we fear anything - and especially death? The litmus test that determines "where our help comes from" is our attitude toward death. Death is the ultimate end of "self."

Father, help us to live "Christ" on earth - dead to ourselves. May we see that "forgiveness of sin" is the goal - the goal to give that we might receive. Help us to see that in so doing, You are the One Who watches over us and we have nothing to fear - nothing can harm us.