Righteous Bookends
If you recall, in last week’s Reach we opened up the Bible to the story of Uzzah, a man whose seemingly innocent misstep was in fact an act of irreverence, and one that would be met with great impact. We focused on Uzzah last week, this week we are going to look at David and his piece in the story. We read the story in 2 Samuel:
And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.
And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” So David was not willing to take the ark of the Lord into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
2 Samuel 6:5-10
David was angry.
David was afraid.
David was unwilling.
God gave David time.
Can you relate to David? Anger is firing off in your mind, fear is gripping your heart — tossing all reason and understanding out the window, ushering your freewill to seize the helm. It feels right and yet wrong. It feels like things are under control but really all seems lost.
David understood this kind of feeling — the book of Psalms is chocked-full of poems and songs written by David during some of his “big feeling” moments. We read in Psalm 55:
“My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen on me.
Fear and trembling have beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me.
I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
I would flee far away
and stay in the desert;
I would hurry to my place of shelter,
far from the tempest and storm.”
Psalm 55:4-8
David felt deeply and David reacted a lot but David did something else too…David looked to God. The scriptures where David is crying out in pain are typically bookended by him first calling out to God and then giving God glory. David knew how to sandwich his pain between reverence and praise — a strategy which can actually allow you to fully feel while also keeping those feelings contained so nobody gets hurt. Not you, and no one beside you.
In the story of Uzzah and the Ark, scripture is very clear that David felt angry about what had happened to Uzzah, he felt afraid of God, and so he was unwilling to allow the Ark to be moved into the city. Did God strike David down for his unwillingness to move the Ark? No. Did God shout from the heavens, “But I made my rules quite clear! You are to move the Ark in this way — not that!” No. Scripture does not say how God felt in response to David’s reaction, but we do know what God did…He gave David time to process his feelings.
My youngest son knows how to feel a lot at once and it still marvels me how such a tiny frame can express such big emotion. The other night, while tucking the boys in bed, Ray had a devotional in hand to read aloud when all of a sudden our big feeling fella started to shed tiny tears. Ray and I were so confused because all had seemed right in the world until this moment. We leaned in and asked what was wrong — “Nothing’s wrong! I’m not ready to talk about it!” He sounded angry, he sounded afraid, he sounded so unwilling to share…so Ray moved closer and cupped our son’s face gently into his hands and said, “Nothing you could say will make me mad at you, but please be honest with me because I love you and I want to know what has upset you.”
Turns out our sweet little guy didn’t want to read a devotional before bed and he was afraid he would hurt God’s feelings if he asked to read a different book. I saw the look in Ray’s eyes and knew I didn’t need to say anything because it was a moment for a father with human hands to hold his son the way his Heavenly Father desires to. We read the devotional and then read two more bedtime stories before calling it a night.
Our son had experienced big feelings in a moment, but we didn’t allow those feelings to stop us from loving him. We knew the truth he needed to hear, we knew the peace it would bring him, and so we held him and waited till his heart was ready to receive.
God didn’t allow feelings to thwart how He loved David, and here’s the truth, the encouragement, the gift from today’s Reach — He won’t allow feelings to move Him away from you. The question is are you going to allow it?
Our Father will not leave you, He will not forsake you, but He will wait for however long it takes for you to move the feelings where they belong… tucked between the bookends of reverence and praise. We can see how David modeled this practice in Psalm 56, see if you can notice the righteous bookends as we read:
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise
in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
All day long they twist my words;
all their schemes are for my ruin.
They conspire, they lurk,
they watch my steps,
hoping to take my life.
Because of their wickedness do not let them escape;
in your anger, God, bring the nations down.
Record my misery;
list my tears on your scroll
are they not in your record?
Then my enemies will turn back
when I call for help.
By this I will know that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise
in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can man do to me?
I am under vows to you, my God;
I will present my thank offerings to you.
For you have delivered me from death
and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of life.
Psalm 56:3-13
Give reverence to God,
Process the feelings within,
And then praise your Father as He calms the storm.
He knows what made the waves within rise, and He knows exactly how to make them lie down. Jesus demonstrated this to his disciples with a real storm (Mark 43:35) … but He doesn’t just move in this way with water.
Feelings are meant to be felt, but there are safe guidelines to follow when feelings are flowing. After Uzzah died David didn’t leave the Ark where Uzzah had fallen, but rather he entrusted the Ark into the hands of Obed-edom, a man who was respectable and safe. So despite the emotional waves his feelings were trying to make, David worked to do good. How did God respond?
In the waiting, God remained close to David and He blessed the man who put a roof over the Ark. Whatever waves may be crashing within you now or a month from now, I pray you will place righteous bookends around those feelings and then feel God hold you, steady you, and speak peace over the waters of your soul.
