Part #5 – Right Heart, Wrong Method
2 Samuel 6:1-11 ”Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.”
David is now king over all Israel. He has taken Jerusalem from the Jebusites and made it his capital. The next thing on his heart is the most important thing he could possibly do as king. He wants to bring the ark of God back up to Jerusalem so the presence of the Lord would sit at the very center of the nation.
The ark had been sitting in a private house in Kirjath-jearim for around seventy years. The Philistines had captured it back in the days of Eli, suffered for keeping it, and finally sent it back. Israel parked it at the house of Abinadab and basically forgot about it for two generations. Saul never went after it during his entire reign. Now David, the man after God’s own heart, is the one who decides it is finally time to bring the presence of God back where it belongs.
His heart is right, his motive is right, and his desire is right. He gathers thirty thousand men and makes a celebration of it. They put the ark on a brand new cart pulled by oxen, with Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, leading the way. There was music, singing, and dancing. The whole nation was watching their king bring God home.
And then disaster strikes. The oxen stumble at Nachon’s threshing floorand Uzzah reaches out to steady the ark and the moment his hand touches it, God strikes him dead on the spot. “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God” (2 Samuel 6:7).
The whole celebration stops. Thirty thousand men stand there in silence. David is angry first, then afraid, and he abandons the move altogether. The ark gets parked at the house of Obed-edom and sits there for three months while David goes home to figure out what just happened.
Here is what David eventually figured out. The cart was not how God said to move the ark.
God told Moses way back in Numbers 4 that the ark was to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites by poles run through the rings on the side. Nobody was ever to touch the ark itself. Not the priests, or the Levites. “But they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die” (Numbers 4:15). The Kohathites were told no wagons (Numbers 7:9). It was to go on their shoulders!
David had not even consulted the Word of God on it. He copied what the Philistines did when they sent the ark back in 1 Samuel 6. The Philistines put it on a new cart pulled by oxen. That worked for them because they were Philistines and God was sending the ark out of their land. But that was never God’s way for His own people. David did what looked right and what somebody else had done instead of opening the Book and finding out what God said to do.
When he finally goes back three months later to bring the ark up the right way, he says it as plain as it can be said. “Because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order” (1 Chronicles 15:13).
You can have the right heart and still get it wrong. You can love God, want to honor Him and still do it the way that costs you greatly. Most Christians wrestle with this and never see it clearly. Their heart is right but their method is wrong. They want to do something good for God but they do not stop and ask Him how He wants it done.
Here are eight things from this story that line up directly with how we walk with God today.
1. A Right Heart Does Not Cancel Out a Wrong Method
David’s heart and desire were right. The ark needed to come to Jerusalem. He had thirty thousand men with him, celebrating. None of that mattered when he picked the wrong way to do it. God is not impressed with our intentions when His instructions have been laid out clearly in His Word.
This was the same lesson Saul never learned. Saul kept what God said to destroy in 1 Samuel 15 and tried to dress it up by saying he was going to sacrifice it to the Lord. Samuel answered him with a line that David should have remembered before he ever loaded that cart. “Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22).
A lot of well meaning Christians end up in trouble here. They think that because their heart was right, the result will be right too. It does not work that way with God. He gave us a Book full of how to do things. He cares about the how. Right heart with the wrong method still gets you Uzzah on the ground.
2. Don’t Do God’s Work the World’s Way
The Philistines moved the ark on a new cart and it worked for them. So David saw it work for the Philistines and decided that was the way to do it. He did God’s work the world’s way.
A lot of Christians do the same thing today and never realize it. They want to build a strong family, raise good kids, run a ministry, grow a church, fix a marriage, or get out of debt, and the first place they look for the method is the world. They copy what is working in business. They copy what is working in entertainment. They copy what their unsaved neighbor is doing because it looks like it is paying off for them. God has a way for His own work, and His way is in His Word, not in the world.
Paul was direct about it. “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). The world has methods that look like they work. Most of them will eventually cost you a Uzzah.
3. Always Ask God How Before You Ask God When
David asked God when to bring up the ark. He never asked God how. He just looked around at what seemed right and went with it. Three months later, when he tried again, he got it right. He gathered the Levites and acknowledged out loud that the first time around they did not inquire of God about how to move it.
Most of us, when we sense God moving on our hearts to do something, jump straight to the doing. We feel led to start a Bible study, take a job, plant a church, get married, move to another state, give a big gift, do something for the Lord, and we never stop and ask Him how He wants it done. Then we are surprised when it falls apart in our hands.
James said it best. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). He gives wisdom to those who ask. He does not give wisdom to those who assume.
4. God’s Instructions Are Not Suggestions
God told Moses that the ark was to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites by poles. He laid it out specifically because the ark was holy. David came along generations later, decided the cart looked easier and faster, and a man died.
God’s specific commands in His Word are not optional just because another way looks more convenient. He did not give us instructions to be ignored when we have a better idea. The Bible says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
When the Bible tells you how to handle your money, how to lead your home, how to run your business honestly, how to forgive a brother, how to love your wife, that is how we should do it. The cart looks easier, but the shoulders are the right way.
5. You Will Be Tempted to Steady the Ark When God Is the One Moving It
Uzzah reached out to steady the ark. Probably out of instinct. Probably with good intentions. He thought he was helping. He was not. God did not need a man’s hand to keep His own ark from hitting the ground. And the whole problem in the first place was that they had put the ark on a cart that was not going to be steady. Uzzah was trying to fix a problem that man had created.
A lot of believers spend their lives trying to steady the ark for God. They are trying to control outcomes that are not theirs to control. They are trying to manage situations God has already taken responsibility for. They are nervous, busy, manipulating, fixing, and pushing because deep down they do not believe God can handle it without their help.
6. A Wrong Method Can Stop a Good Work for Months
The ark sat in Obed-edom’s house for three months because David did it wrong the first time. The whole thing came to a halt. Israel had no ark in Jerusalem for those three months because of one wrong decision.
When you try to do God’s work the wrong way, the work does not move forward. You sit there for months wondering what happened, and you cannot put your finger on it.
Most of the time the answer is not that God is being slow. The answer is that God is waiting on you to figure out you went about it wrong. He stopped the project to keep you from doing more damage. The three months at Obed-edom’s house was not punishment. It was a pause for David to go back to the Book and learn the right way.
7. God Will Bless When You Do It His Way
While the ark was sitting at Obed-edom’s house, something interesting happens. “And the Lord blessed Obed-edom, and all his household” (2 Samuel 6:11). Obed-edom did not do anything special. He just had the ark of God in his house and let it sit there in honor. The same ark that struck Uzzah dead was now blessing a household for three months.
When David came back the second time and did it the right way, the Bible records, “And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord” (1 Chronicles 15:15).
They followed the Book this time. The Levites carried it on their shoulders with the poles, just like God said. They came into Jerusalem with shouting and singing and dancing. No one died, and nothing went wrong. The presence of God came home, and David danced before the Lord with all his might (2 Samuel 6:14).
The first method killed a man and the second method brought blessings. That is the difference between right heart wrong method and right heart right method.
God does not just care that you do something for Him. He cares how you do it. Stop and ask Him before you move and open the Book before you copy what the world is doing. The ark always gets to Jerusalem when you carry it the way He said to carry it.
