Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
As we begin a new month of February together, I wonder what the priority issues are facing you this month. Lately we’ve been following the story of David, one of the greatest heroes of all time for the nation of Israel as recorded in the Bible. Yesterday I left you with David and his men as they conquered the ancient city of “Jebus” and it became known as “the City of David”, which is today a small but significant portion of the great city of Jerusalem.
If you are like me and most people in our world, you’ve likely moved from one town to another and you’ve set up a new home in a new place. How long did it take for you to feel settled in your new town? What were the key things required for you to feel like your new town was ‘home’? Probably you needed to find the grocery stores, a bank, and doctors and a dentist, and if you have children, you needed schools for your kids, right?
How about a church? How important was it for you to find a good church before you felt settled in your new town? As I look at the record of David making Jerusalem his home, and particularly “the City of David”, I’m challenged and encouraged to see that David prioritized establishing the spiritual presence of the God of Israel in that city as one of his first major endeavors. Today let’s look at how David did that, it’s really quite remarkable and the story is found in 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chronicles 13.
I notice in 1 Chronicles 13:1 that: “David conferred with each of his officers… He then said to the whole assembly of Israel, ‘If it seems good to you and if it is the will of the LORD our God, let us send word far and wide to the rest of our brothers throughout the territories of Israel, and also the priests and Levites... to come and join us. Let us bring the Ark of our God back to us, for we did not inquire of it during the reign of Saul’. The whole assembly agreed to do this, because it seemed right to the people.” Oh my, that encourages me so much I want to jump up and shout, ‘Well done King David! Now you are showing the people how a King of God’s people should lead well!’ Why do I say that? Well because I see four things David did that Saul and most leaders don’t do!
First... David sought the counsel, the wisdom, of his key leaders, do you see that in the opening phrase? How important is that in good leadership?
Second... David challenged the people to think wisely, to consider what the right thing to do would be and to align their thinking with the will of God. That’s important friends. Whenever we can align our minds and hearts with God, we will make the right decision every time!
Third... David rallied the people together, including those who should be spiritual leaders in Israel. Why?
Because this act, of bringing the Ark of God to Jerusalem, would be a major unifying action for all the people of Israel. David understood how important unity is in any nation.
For the people of Israel, by God’s design, nothing should unify them more than worshiping Almighty God who delivered their ancestors from slavery in Egypt and has declared Israel to be HIS people. (Ex. 19:4-6)
Fourth… David reprioritized the action of ‘inquiring of God’ when Israel faced a decision.
For David, all the leaders of Israel needed to acknowledge they had failed the people during Saul’s reign, by NOT seeking God’s guidance, and now with David as king, it was important the people understood David, and others with him in leadership, would henceforth prioritize ‘inquiring of God’ whenever they faced important decisions.
By the way, may I point out something very interesting about some of those key leaders David assembled and with whom he conferred? In the previous chapter, 1 Chronicles 12:32 tells us there was an unusual group of 200 chiefs of the tribe of Issachar. The record declares these men “…understood the times and knew what Israel should do…” Now that really fascinates me. Who were these wise men? How did they gain their understanding of the times in which they lived?
How did they know what Israel should do when nothing more is told to us about these men? I assume these were men who had an anointing of the Holy Spirit of God upon them and perhaps they are like the Magi we find in Matthew 2 who came searching for the newborn King of the Jews, when most everyone else was oblivious to the miracle happening in Bethlehem with Joseph and Mary! Here’s the question that burns in my heart: could that be said of you and me?
Are we people who understand the times and know what we, our families, our communities, our nation should do that would be God honoring? Is that a burning passion of your heart for 2024?
One of my primary objectives for “Walking with Jesus” is helping us become people like that because we are growing in our understanding of God and His truth in His Word!!
Now back to the story of David bringing the Ark to his new hometown, ‘the City of David’. If you read the accounts of either 2 Samuel 6 or 1 Chronicles 13, you’ll see David, and a very large group of Israelites, went to the town of Kiriath Jearim to get the Ark of the Covenant. Why there you may ask? Well, that is where it was placed several years before when the Ark was returned from having been captured by the Philistines, as we discovered in 1 Samuel 7:1. The Ark remained there for many years until this day when King David and the people of his generation came to get the Ark and bring it to ‘the City of David’.
Now that’s significant my friends, for you may recall when God instructed Moses to lead the people, at Mount Sinai, in constructing a Tabernacle for worship and God designed the various precious artifacts which belonged in the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant was to ALWAYS be in the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle and only removed while the mobile Tabernacle was being relocated to some other place. The Ark contained the tablets of stone, inscribed by the finger of God, which Moses had brought down from Mount Sinai. (Ex. 34:29)
But after the Ark was returned from capture by the Philistines, the people of Beth Shemesh did not return it to Shiloh from where the Tabernacle had been, but rather sent it to Kiriath Jearim, a nearby town, and entrusted it to the care of a man named Abinadab and they consecrated his son Eleazar to keep a close watch on the Ark, assuring no one attempted to touch it or harm it in anyway. 1 Chronicles 13 tells us that while David is to be honored for prioritizing moving the Ark to ‘the City of David’ and certainly he had done an excellent job of rallying the people, including the spiritual leaders, to join him in this expedition, a terrible mistake was made.
Here’s how the record describes it: “David and the Israelite went up to Kiriath Jearim to bring up from there the Ark of God the LORD who is enthroned between the cherubim… They moved the Ark of God from Abinadab’s house on a new cart, with Uzzah and Ahio guiding it. David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with song and harps, lyres, tambourines, cymbals and trumpets.” (1 Chronicles 13:6-8)
Now that sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? We’re going to pause right here, watching the parade. Can you envision it? Instruments playing, cymbals crashing, people dancing and singing and shouting praise to God, and on a brand-new cart, the Ark of the Covenant of God gleaming in the bright sunlight. Oh my, I think it may be more spectacular than any parade you or I have ever seen.
But tomorrow we’ll see disaster strikes this parade and we’ll understand WHY God not only allowed the disaster, He actually sent the disaster and what lesson was to be learned! Can you wait till tomorrow? Meanwhile, here’s a great Hebrew worship song of praise that helps us celebrate in the spirit of this wonderful parade with David and God’s Ark of the Covenant.
Today’s Scripture: 1 Chronicles 13:1-8.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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