When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf.
Good morning! Here is today’s word of blessings for you.
2 Samuel 6:9-15
9 David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” 10 He was not willing to take the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household. 12 Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. 13 When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, 15 while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
Today’s title is “Being Teachable Before God”
How do you tell Christians from other people when they are all blended together? I personally can’t tell even though I have been a pastor for many years. Of course, we know that there are certain outward characteristics of Christians such as carrying the Bible or attending a church. There are some religious words and phrases that Christians typically use too. But these outward characteristics can often be misleading. What I personally believe is a good hallmark of a true Christian as a pastor is being teachable. Any Christian knows that we are sinners with lots of flaws in and out. Some say it is “total depravity”. We are so totally depraved that we are hopeless apart from the Savior. However, Christians do endeavor to be like Christ. The title “Christians” were in fact used because the outsiders could see the obvious connection and similarity between some group of people who follow Christ and Christ. “So for a whole year, Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. (Acts 11:26). So how do Christians become like Christ? They become like Christ through the teachings of the Lord and His disciples. In fact, that’s what Saul and Barnabas have done in Antioch. They met with the church there and taught a great many people. Unlike some stubborn people who resist the teachings of the Lord and the disciples, those who become like Christ were highly teachable. They were eager to learn and live by the convinced truth. We see such teachability in David in today’s passage. He didn’t know why God had struck down Uzzah when he seemed to hold the ark to keep it from falling down from the cart when the oxen stumbled. So he was angry at what God has done. It didn’t make sense to him at the moment. But he still loved and trusted God. Although he was angry at what happened which he couldn’t make sense of at the moment, he knew that when God has done something, there must be a reason. He humbly and carefully reviewed and watched what went wrong. He watched and noticed that the ark of God brought blessings to the house of Obed-Edom where it was. That was exactly what he wanted when he tried to bring the ark of God close to the city of David. Then, what went wrong? David must have consulted with the book of the Law and the prophets around him. He finally figured it out. So he had Levites to carry the ark with due honor to God but not without celebration. How teachable are you before God? We people are pretty stubborn, aren’t we? But when we know the Lord who instructs and guides us all the time, how can we remain stubborn? Absolutely not!