Dover Assembly of God
We left off with our study of David’s life at the point where he was taking the ark to the city, but he wasn’t doing it God’s way.
If you remember, he took a survey of the people about what to do instead of seeing how God wanted it done.
And because of David’s disobedience, other people were hurt.
No matter how good an idea or plan or intention is, we need to seek God’s wisdom and direction on it.
To David both moving the ark and the method seemed reasonable, but they didn’t ask God about it.
So after Uzzah was killed, understandably David became hesitant about his next step.
2 Samuel 6:9-10 NIV
After a failure, we tend to become hesitant about taking the next step...
Sometimes big failures stop us in our tracks and rather than acknowledging them, and moving on, we never attempt anything else for fear of failure.
2 Samuel 6:11 NIV
By not figuring out what went wrong and trying to do it the right way, he was missing out on God’s blessings.
God’s blessings followed God’s presence as represented in the Old Testament by the Ark.
So if his goal was right, David now had to figure out where he went wrong.
Just because we may fail big time or blow it, doesn’t mean we abandon being in God’s presence.
2 Samuel 6:12 NIV
Testimonies of God’s blessing in people’s lives are meant to encourage us to seek God for ourselves. We should be encouraged that the blessings that others receive are also available to us.
1 Chronicles 15:1 NIV
He knew he had to pursue God again, so he started the preparations.
Whenever we fail at serving God, instead of running away, we need to press in more than ever.
Get a plan together. Start your preparations on how to once again receive God’s blessings.
The first step in this plan of restoration, was to figure out what went wrong the first time--and he did.
1 Chronicles 15:2 NIV
David realized what he did wrong. The first thing we have to do is admit we were wrong.
1 Chronicles 15:13 NIV
Seems as though there was plenty of blame to go around, but David didn’t focus on that.
He acknowledged it, told everyone what they did wrong. He ended it by saying WE did not inquire of God. He accepted responsibility as well.
In times of failure, do we step up and acknowledge our part in the failure? Or do we try to shift the blame?
1 Chronicles 15:14 NIV
If it was a group failure, the team has to step in and prepare for what is next. They had to first get in a position to be used by God.
In the Old Testament, they had to consecrate themselves. Today we have to prepare our hearts.
1 Chronicles 15:15 NIV
There were certain things that the king did, certain things that the priests did and certain things that prophets did and certain things that the singers did.
Everyone had a part to play.
1 Chronicles 15:16 NIV
David was their leader, but the people had to do what they were called to do.
If Israel was to retrieve the ark and receive God’s blessings, everyone had to do their part.
1 Corinthians 12 talks about each person in a church setting is part of the whole body and each had individual gifts, abilities and responsibilities.
And for any church to move forward and receive God’s blessings, each has to do what they were called to do.
So once the team is assembled and prayed up and prepared to seek God and his blessings, excitement build in expectation.
1 Chronicles 15:25 NIV
Everyone was rejoicing.
They had studied God’s word, knew what God had promised and they were expecting a great move and blessing from God.
They were worshipping and rejoicing before God.
Worship isn’t always about singing and playing.
1 Chronicles 15:26 NIV
2 Samuel 6:13 NIV
They had only walked 6 steps before they offered a sacrifice.
2 things about this...
1st: They didn’t want to get too far into this only to find out they were doing it wrong again, so they paused and offered this sacrifice. When no judgment fell like with Uzzah, they were confident that God was pleased.
It’s always good to seek God the whole way through a situation not just start and never ask him again for wisdom.
2nd: Worship always involves sacrifice.
Whether it is the “sacrifice of praise” which means we praise God when we don’t feel like it, or the sacrifice of giving yourself to be used by God in a given area.
Romans 12:1 NIV
If all we do is sing and think that is all worshipping God is about then we are forgetting that everything we do for God is an act of worship.
2 Samuel 24:24 NIV
We worship when we serve others, when we give, when we sing, when we sit and listen to a lesson.
There was great excitement and expression as they worshipped God.
1 Chronicles 15:27-28 NIV
When God’s people were following God’s plan, they couldn’t help but rejoice and be excited about what their God was doing in their midst.
When we come to worship and we focus on what God is doing, we should be able to be excited.
These folks weren’t excited about what was happening at that moment, they were excited about what they expected God to do. They were expecting.
They were singing, dancing and playing music in expectation of what God was going to do.
When we worship, are we excited and expectant of what God is going to do?
They didn’t focus on their first time failure. They focused on the future.
Our failures do not define our future. Once we repent of our mistakes and sin, our future is what God determines it should be.
And for that we should be excited and rejoice.
David went from failure, to fear, to faith. We will all experience failure at some point in our walk with God.
We needn’t be afraid of confessing and pressing on.
As we said before. Failure doesn’t define your future. God is able to turn the worst around for His glory and our good.
And that knowledge should excite us and cause us to worship God with exuberance. Not for what’s happening now, but we are trusting God for in the future.