We must always beware of impulsive actions in our walk with God, especially in our worship of God. I was reminded again of this in reading 1 Chronicles 13 & 15.
David consulted with his officers about bringing the ark of God back to Jerusalem. Then he said to the whole assembly of
They put the ark on a new cart, which was drawn by oxen. Uzzah and Ahio guided it. David and all the people celebrated “with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, cymbals and trumpets.” Then suddenly the oxen stumbled and Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark. God got angry over this and struck him down. When David saw this he became angry with God. The celebrating stopped and the ark was left there for fear that others might get struck down.
This account might be confusing to some of you, but when you read chapter 15 you find what went wrong. Read chapter 15 carefully and you’ll see that David and the people forgot some important things before they acted. We’ll check them out in our next visit.