“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… so David was afraid of the LORD that day; and he said, ‘How can the ark of the LORD come to me?’ ” (2 Sam 6:7,9)
Reverence is the act of showing deep respect and regard for something. Any act of worship that does not include reverence is not about God, but about us. It is what the Bible calls “self-imposed worship” that comes from a false humility.
David wanted to move the ark, but he didn’t stop to ask God how to do it and so David’s worship led to the ark being pulled on a cart instead of being carried by the Levitical priests. Which led to Uzzah touching the ark when it began to tip and God striking him down for his irreverence.
A cart versus being carried may seem like a trivial thing, but that is because we have decided that God’s expectation of how the ark was to be handled was trivial – and that said a lot about David and Uzzah’s deep respect and regard for His laws.
Reverence dictates that God decides what is trivial and what matters. Reverence searches His Word for guidance instead of making our own self-imposed worship. Any other worship is just false humility, no matter how pious it might seem.
“Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” (Col 2:23)
Matt. 4:4 #Biblebites