Every congregation needs leaders who are committed to doing the right thing because of an undying trust in God, no matter how tough things get.
Even if everybody else in your congregation falters in faith because of fatigue or frustration or discouragement, the Obed-Edoms in the flock need to demonstrate an immovable trust in the Lord so that congregation’s flame does not burn out.
With so many congregations now gripped by spiritual weakness showing up as financial or feuding problems, a passage in today’s One-Year Bible reading takes on additional importance for guiding our faith and practice.
“The ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house for three months, and the LORD blessed his household and everything he had.” (I Chronicles 13:14).
I Chronicles 12-13 describe how King David was so excited that — following King Saul’s death — Israel’s tribes had finally united under his leadership and that the Ark of the Covenant could be brought to the nation’s newly established capital city, Jerusalem, captured in a military victory over the Jebusites.
David had a clear vision for God’s prominence in Israel’s main city and the Ark’s presence in the relocated Tabernacle was key to implementing that vision. The problem was that he was careless in his vision and his oversight of the ministry team assigned to transport the Ark to Jerusalem.
Instead of carrying the Ark on poles as commanded by God in the Mosaic law, the ministry team put it on an ox cart, probably because of convenience and comfort for the Levite ministers walking alongside the cart.
Even though David and the procession were worshiping up a storm, God was offended by the lack of concern for how His Ark was being handled. At some point in the journey from Kiriath Jearim to Jerusalem, the ox stumbled and the cart shook, a Levite named Uzzah grabbed the Ark to keep it from falling off the cart.
That was too much for God’s grace to handle and God zapped him dead on the spot. Talk about a mood-changer…..
David was mad at God for killing Uzzah who had been asked by the king to help get the Ark to Jerusalem, so mad in fact that David canned the idea of taking the ark to the capital city.
That’s when the faith of Obed-Edom showed up.
Obed-Edom was one of Israel’s worship leader/musicians and he had to have been as shocked as anybody when Uzzah was struck dead.
Yet, Obed-Edom sensed that the problem was not with the Ark itself or with God, but instead with how the Israelites were treating it.
That’s why he volunteered to have the Ark stored at his home.
Imagine explaining that one to your wife when a huge procession of depressed Israelites showed up at her front door. “Somebody just got killed for touching Ark, honey, and so I’ve decided to have the Ark stored in our house for awhile.”
Talk about faith! God saw Obed-Edom’s unshakeable confidence in Him, despite the terrible crisis that had just happened. When nobody else wanted anything to do with the Ark, Obed-Edom correctly saw that the problem was not with God but with how people were being careless in their faith.
The blessings poured into Obed-Edom’s life not only favored the faithful servant, but also instructed the people of Israel.
David and other Israelites did get over their pity party mentality. They did learn the lesson of how the Ark was to be treated, correctly transporting it the next time around. And the nation was blessed by God.
Please imitate Obed-Edom. Trust God when others don’t or when they’re mad at Him for not doing what they want.
The more we are like Obed-Edom, the more we help to build God’s Kingdom. And the more that blessings just might come our way.
As always, I love you
Martin
