Wednesday, January 6, 2010

So I just remembered!

Okay, so this is really sad. I'm not one of those people who has a blog that updates it once a month or less. I'm just one of those people who forgot that we even had one! Ha!

So, I guess I'll take a little time to write.

In reading through some scriptures in 1 Chronicles, I was blown away as I hung out with the Israelites for a little bit. I was reading a familiar story about Uzzah, the ding-dong that touched the Ark. But I saw it in a different light this time. I saw Uzzah as my buddy. They were just carrying the Ark to the place God had asked them to. Uzzah didn't want it to fall. They remembered that God had said to carry it in a specific way, but they didn't realize how important those instructions were. It was then that I saw Uzzah, my good friend, DIE because he touched the very thing that God had used to protect us. God's presence hovered over the Ark. By it, we defeated nations. We sacrificed to God on its Mercy Seat. It was our avenue to worship God. And because Uzzah's hand touched it, he died. The thing that protected all of us killed one of us.

I wonder how often I've viewed the protection of God as MY protection? God was protecting the Israelites, but through the death of Uzzah, we see His protection was more about His glory and for His name's sake and less about the protection. He protected His people because He made a covenant with them.

Psalm 29
1 Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.

4 The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.

5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild ox.

7 The voice of the LORD strikes
with flashes of lightning.

8 The voice of the LORD shakes the desert;
the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.

9 The voice of the LORD twists the oaks
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, "Glory!"

10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD is enthroned as King forever.

11 The LORD gives strength to his people;
the LORD blesses his people with peace.