God is Holy

Psalm 111:10

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding.To him belongs eternal praise.

Good morning ladies,

Last night at Bible study we discussed a disturbing story out of 2Samuel 6. David has finally become king over all of Israel and he is bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. The Ark was very special to Israel, it was the place where God dwelt and He had given them VERY specific instruction on how it was to be handled. It was to be transported with poles by the Levites.

For some reason David chose to ignore those instructions and loaded the Ark on a cart. As they were going along the Ark started to slip and Uzzah reached out to steady it. The text says: The LORD's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.

Sort of harsh.

But is it really?

What we often forget is that God is Holy; He cannot tolerate the presence of sin. If it were not for the redemptive work of Christ on the cross at Calvary none of us would be able to get near God.

The second thing, I think we forget, is God said the penalty for sin is death. Only His grace keeps us from paying the price.

Last night Jan shared she had read in some country, it turns out to be El Salvador, the penalty for drunk driving, first offense, was death. Then she said: “They don’t have much of a problem with drunk driving.”

That made me laugh, but it also made me think: if I really had God’s perspective on sin I wouldn’t have much of a problem with sin.

Love,
Jill