WORSHIP IS NEVER A SUBSTITUTE FOR OBEDIENCE By David Maddox
One of the most important examples of the true character of God and what is important to Him is virtually unknown to most Believers. To find it you have to go all the way back to King David and events described in 1 Chronicles 13 and 15. Remember that God later says of David that He had found in David “a man after my own heart who will do my will” (Acts 13:22). But that was not true all the time for David like us sometimes stepped out on his own to honor God without being sure what he was doing was of the Lord. David is probably the most well known to modern Believers as the worship King – the author of most of the Psalms. It would then be no surprise that when his kingdom was finally united – both Israel and Judah – and he lived in Jerusalem – that he wanted the Ark of the Covenant – the symbol of God’s physical presence with him in Jerusalem. Seeking to both honor and glorify God he assembled all the nation and went down to get the Ark. David the passionate worshiper of God, “and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, with song and lyres and harps and tambourines and cymbals and trumpets” (1 Chronicles 13:8). They were moving the Ark on a new cart and the oxen pulling the Ark stumbled. Uzzah one of the drivers of the cart reached out his hand to take hold of the Ark and then the unexpected happened. Scripture records that, “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and He struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God. And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzza to this day. And David was afraid of God that day, and he said, ‘How can I bring the ark of God home to me?’ David did not take the ark home into the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite” (1 Chronicles 13:10-13).
What possibly could explain God’s action in the face of a whole nation being led in amazing worship before Him with the sole object of bringing Him glory and honor? It took David three months searching to find the answer which was always before him. The answer was that David’s worship was acceptable until he disobeyed God’s Word – and because God is holy His Word will be honored no matter what. David eventually came to the correct conclusion. “‘Because you did not carry it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not seek Him according to the rule.’ So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord” (1 Chronicles 15:13-15). When they acted in obedience to God’s Word we find God not lashing out against them, but rather, “God helped the Levites who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord . . . so all Israel brought up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord with shouting, to the sound of the horn, trumpets, and cymbals, and made loud music on harps and lyres” (1 Chronicles 15:26, 28). The people’s worship was much the same in passion and purpose both times, but the second time the people not only worshiped – they obeyed God’s Word and thus were both successful and blessed and their worship was accepted. Worship is never a substitute for obedience to God’s Word.
About David Maddox – After a legal career in both Texas and Arizona that spanned over 40 years as a civil litigator, God called David to leave his law practice and work full time as Discipleship Director for Time to Revive. That call is really the fruit of decades of prayer for revival and teaching God’s Word, writing discipleship materials and seeking to make disciples. David married Janet Whitehead in 1976 and they minister together from their Phoenix home. God has blessed them with four children and thus far seven grandchildren.
