Caution!

“Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them …” Lev.10:1-2 [NKJV].

What killed Uzzah? You can read Uzzah’s story in 2 Samuel 6. The Ark of God was coming to Jerusalem, and the Ark began to shake. So Uzzah touched it and God killed him. What actually killed Uzzah? If you study this portion of scripture properly, you will discover that although the Ark should not have been carried in a cart, what killed Uzzah was his lack of regard for the Ark. Uzzah was the son of the potter in whose house they put the Ark and it had been in that house for years. But Uzzah paid no obeisance to God. Uzzah had no regard for the Ark when it was in his house. Uzzah didn’t wake up in the morning with the consciousness that the Ark of the God of Israel was in his house and bow before The Maker of the heavens and the earth. Uzzah had no regard in private and in public, Uzzah was boasting about how the ark had been in his custody. And God said, just touch me. And maybe an angel shook the cart and Uzzah touched the Ark and God killed him [translated]. If you have no regard for God in your heart privately, be careful what you say about God publicly. It is your heart, what you do in private, which brings power to what you do in public.

Joab had no regard for God in his private life; he did not seek to know God. But he wanted to be the one to take a special song in the choir; he wanted to be the one to lead a prayer meeting. Joab was playing with fire. And when he had troubles, what did he do? He ran to the tabernacle and held on to the horn. The horn of God is the horn of power and every Jew knows that. In fact, just before Joab, Solomon’s brother had done the same thing and God delivered him, so Joab thought this was the escape route. Be careful of formulas! Something works for someone else; you do not know the depth of his or her relationship with God that made it work. You are just applying the formula. Take note, it may not work for you. You have to know this God. Why am I telling you this? I want to challenge you in your relationship with God. Hophni and Phineas had been stealing from God, offerings, sacrifices, touching the tithes but God kept quiet. And because God did not do anything, they mistook God for a fool. They took the Ark to battle; they thought because they carried the Ark of God it meant automatic victory. They lost and both of them died that same day. Their father Eli heard the news, collapsed, and died. Phineas’ wife gave birth and named the child Ichabod – the glory has departed from Israel. No, that wasn’t where the glory departed. The glory departed when they were stealing from God.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, teach me God’s Words and write His laws on my heart, let my actions be rooted in God’s Word so that I will not sin against Him, in Jesus Name.