Learning To Listen to God
Uzzah – Disaster From A Touch
Ignorance Is Never Bliss
•Some ignore the
worship of God
•Some refuse to learn
from His word.
•Yet they seem to
believe the are going
to be saved in the day
of judgment.
•Ignorance of God’s
will can be deadly!
•A Brief History of the Ark of the Covenant
•Exodus 25:10-22
•God commanded it
be built to house the
tablets of the Law.
•He designated the
space above the
cover between the
cherubim as the
place He would
meet with Israel.
•Numbers 4:4-6, 15 -- "This is the work of the
Kohathites in the Tent of Meeting…When the
camp is to move, Aaron and his sons are to go
in and take down the shielding curtain and
cover the ark of the Testimony with it. Then
they are to cover this with hides of sea cows,
spread a cloth of solid blue over that and put
the poles in place...and when the camp is
ready to move, the Kohathites are to come to
do the carrying. But they must not touch the
holy things or they will die. The Kohathites are
to carry those things that are in the Tent of
Meeting.
•1 Samuel 4-7
•Ark captured by the Philistines during the
days of the wicked sons of Eli the prophet.
•Philistines suffered greatly from the presence
of the ark.
•Sent it back to Israel where it resided at
Keriath Jearim (Baalah of Judah)
•Seventy people killed because they dared to
look into the Ark of the Covenant to see what
was inside.
 The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim for
more than 40 years
 1 Samuel 7:2 -- It was a long time, twenty
years in all, that the ark remained at Kiriath
Jearim, and all the people of Israel
mourned and sought after the LORD.
 1 Samuel 13:1 -- Saul was thirty years old
when he became king, and he reigned
over Israel forty-two years.
 2 Samuel 5:4-5 -- David was thirty years
old when he became king, and he reigned
forty years. At Hebron he reigned over
Judah seven years and six months....
•Disaster in Bringing the Ark to Jerusalem
•Wrong
people try to
move the ark
•2 Samuel 6:1
-- Now David
again gathered
all the chosen
men of Israel,
thirty
thousand.
 Wrong means
of transport
 vs. 3 -- They
placed the ark of
God on a new
cart that they
might bring it
from the house
of Abinadab
which was on the
hill….
 Vs. 6-7 – Disaster from a touch
•But when they came to the
threshing floor of Nacon,
Uzzah reached out toward
the ark of God and took hold
of it, for the oxen nearly
upset it. And the anger of
the LORD burned against
Uzzah, and God struck him
down there for his
irreverence; and he died
there by the ark of God.
 David’s Fear and Confusion
 vs. 9-11 -- So David was afraid of the LORD
that day; and he said, "How can the ark of
the LORD come to me?" And David was
unwilling to move the ark of the LORD into
the city of David with him; but David took it
aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
Thus the ark of the LORD remained in the
house of Obed-edom the Gittite three
months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom
and all his household.
 The Ark finally
brought to
Jerusalem
 1 Chronicles 15:4,
13-15
 Right people
 Carrying as is proper
 Reverence
demonstrated
 Knowledge of God’s
will brings victory
 Could This Disaster Have Been Avoided?
 What led to the disaster?
 Insufficient information
 Incorrect implementation of a flawed plan.
 Improper reverence for God
 What can we learn from this?
 Romans 10:1-4 -- Brethren, my heart's
desire and my prayer to God for them is for
their salvation. For I testify about them that
they have a zeal for God, but not in
accordance with knowledge. For not
knowing about God's righteousness and
seeking to establish their own, they did not
subject themselves to the righteousness of
God. For Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone who believes.
 What people think is right might be wrong
 1 Chronicles 13:1-4
 David consulted his greatest men – captains of
the thousands, hundreds and every leader
 David consulted with the assembly of Israel.
 The entire assembly agreed with the plan
because “the thing was right in the eyes of all
the people.”
 Proverbs 14:12
 There is a way
which seems right
to a man, but its
end is the way of
death.
 2 Timothy 1:13
 Retain the
standard of
sound words
which you have
heard from me,
in the faith and
love which are in
Christ Jesus.