What are you carrying?

And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drave the cart. And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets. And when they came unto the threshingfloor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God. – 1^st Chronicles 13:7-10

It’s tragic that Uzza died in this episode. He had lived with the ark for 20 years with his father Abinidab, and he and Ahio were clearly familiar with it. It seems odd that he would be punished because he was simply trying to help when he thought the Ark might fall. But perhaps the real question in this story is “why did the Oxen stumble?”

These oxen could easily pull the Ark itself. The Philistines sent the ark, along with golden offerings, back to Israel on a cart being pulled by milk cows. The cart could also easily carry such a load as the Ark. David made sure to build a NEW cart to carry the Ark back and it’s not unreasonable to assume that David had engineers who were capable of designing a cart that could carry the weight of the Ark.

It’s quite simple to design a vehicle to carry any specific item, but it’s quite hard when you aren’t sure of the weights the item itself will contain. But we often forget that while the ark was being moved, Israel as a nation was busy bringing praise to the Lord. Psalms 2 points out God is enthroned on the praises of his people, which means it’s very likely the Glory of God was seated on the Ark while it was being moved. And so, even though the Oxen could easily pull the Ark alone, it’s very likely they were unable to pull what the Ark carried during this trek, that being the Glory of God.

Oxen are not designed to carry such a load, and as a result, they strained to pull the ark and inevitably stumbled. This led to Uzza’s death. It’s not a matter of strength; it’s a matter of design. It’s a well-known fact that if you try to carry or pull a weight with a vehicle that’s not designed to carry that weight, you create a dangerous and often deadly situation. If you doubt this, just try to pull 10,000lb boat behind a 67 Volkswagen and see how comfortable you feel driving that car. The Volkswagen CAN get it moving, but it’s not designed to pull that load.

The charge of carrying the Ark and the rest of the holy utensils was given to the family of Kohath, of the tribe of Levi (Numbers 4). In other words, it is the Priests of God that are ordained and designed to carry the Glory of God. When Uzza died, David had the Ark carried into Obed-Edom’s house, and a month later, David had it carried by the priests all the way to Jerusalem and both of these transfers happened without incident.

Through Christ, this charge is now extended to not just the Levites, but to each and every one of us. As a Christian you are also ordained as a Priest of the Most High, and you can carry the Glory of God with you everywhere you go.

Man is the only creature designed to carry the Glory of God, and in fact it’s the only thing that God asks us to carry. He tells us to ‘lay our burdens down’, not to pick them up. But too often, we pick up burdens we are not designed to carry, and as a result, we create dangerous situations either for ourselves or for those around us; who, trying to help, might end up like Uzza when we stumble. If we are carrying a load we are not designed to carry, it is inevitable that we will stumble at some point. But if we carry the load we are designed to carry, we find that his ‘yoke is easy and his burden is light’. It’s not easy because it’s small and puny in size and weight; it’s easy because we were designed to carry it.

Our duty in life is not to try to ‘resolve’ or ‘manage’ the situations we find ourselves in, but rather to carry the Glory of God into those situations. Then God, not us, can bring His purposes and His resolutions to the situations we find ourselves in. Our questions that we ask of God need to change from “God how do I fix this?” to “God how do I bring your Glory into this place?”

Questions to ponder

1. What are you carrying that you are not supposed to carry? Do you find it hard to put it down? Why?
2. Do you think to bring the Glory of God into your situations? Why or why Not?
3. Do you try to bring your own strength to your situations? How’s that working for you?
4. How comfortable are you with God dealing with your situations ‘His way’ instead of ‘your way?’ Why?
5. Do you sense the presence of God in your daily life working on your behalf on the issues before you? How does that make you feel?