1 CHRONICLES 13 NO SUBSTITUTE FOR CONSULTING GOD2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Chronicles 13 No Substitute For Consulting God

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015. Well, as we look at 1 Chronicles chapter 13 this morning, I would ask all of us to consider how you want God to be glorified in your life. There is the surety God will be glorified in your life.

And there's two options basically that you have in the way that that happens. God will for sure be glorified in your life, but you get to choose how.

One way is to have God be glorified in your life by you hearing from him and then being obedient to what he says. And as you submit yourself to God and humble yourself before God and hear from God and are obedient to God, you are able to glorify God in the way that you live. And so God will be glorified if you hear from him and obey him.

There's another way for God to be glorified in your life as well. And that way is for you to not obey God. And then God brings judgment and correction in your life because of the disobedience. And in that way, God is glorified because God demonstrates that he reigns on high and that he is above all things. And in that way, he is glorified. He is lifted up and it's made known that he is king of kings and lord of lords.

And so there's two options for us to have God glorified in our lives. He will be glorified in your life one way or the other.

but we get to choose if it's through our obedience as we've heard from him and listened to him and then are doing what he says or through our disobedience where he brings correction and demonstrates that he is a God who reigns on high. And that's something we ought to consider as we look at this passage because God is glorified in this passage, but it's just not the way that David was expecting God to be glorified. It's not the way that any of us would expect God to be glorified.

Pastor David Guzik says, David wanted Israel to know the presence of the Lord, and God showed up at the threshing floor, but not in the way that anyone wanted. And so he's bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. He wanted the people of God to experience the presence of God, and they did experience the presence of God. But it was not the way he expected. It was not what he was seeking to accomplish.

Now, as we look at this passage and we see David desiring to bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, we can understand that David wanted to do something that was good. What he wanted to do was a good thing. Moving the Ark into Jerusalem was a good thing.

David was seeking to put God at the center of the nation and to really call the nation of Israel back to having God at the center of their hearts and the center of their lives, giving God priority once again in their personal lives as well as in the nation. And so he wants to bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. Just a quick reminder here on the screen is a picture of the Ark of the Covenant.

This is a picture of a model of a electrified, lit up Ark of the Covenant. So that's not actually the glory of God there. But in the tabernacle model that is in Israel, they have put together this replica or, you know, from the description that we find in the Word of God, a model of what the tabernacle or the Ark of the Covenant might have looked like.

So, you know, it was made out of wood. It was covered in gold. It wasn't super special in that it was just basically a box, you know, with the Ten Commandments in it, with the manna in it. It was about the size of our black tables, you know, the little skinny black tables we have. It's about that size. And then there was a cover on top that was made out of gold and it had the cherubim on top. And the thing that made the Ark of the Covenant special is that God promised that his presence would dwell in

there between the wings of the cherubim. And so there the presence of God would dwell there. God would meet with his people. And so what David was wanting to do is to take this ark of the covenant, to take this place where God promised to dwell and for his presence to be with his people and to bring that now to the capital, to the center of the nation, the center of Israel. And so David here is wanting to do something that is good, but then something terrible happens. And

As he's bringing the ark in, there's this big, great procession that's taking place. But then the oxen stumble. And Uzzah, one of the guys who's leading the ark of the covenant and the oxen, he reaches out to steady the ark because the oxen stumbled. And as he does so, he is stricken. He is

put to death immediately because he had touched the Ark of the Covenant. And God had given very specific instructions about the Ark. Only one family of the Levites were allowed to move it, the Kohathites.

And they weren't supposed to move it this way. They were supposed to carry it. That's what the poles in the ark were for. They were to carry it on their shoulders. And God was very strict about this, very serious. He said, you're never supposed to touch it. In Numbers chapter 4, verse 15, he says, don't touch it lest you die. And so he was very clear about that. He revealed clearly in the instruction, if they touch any holy thing, they will die in regards to the furnishings of the tabernacle.

And so Uzzah touches the ark to try to keep it from falling, and he dies as a result. David's trying to do a good thing. I like the way that J. Vernon McGee describes it. He says, this chapter can be labeled doing a right thing in a wrong way. That's what David was doing. He was doing the right thing. Bringing the ark into Jerusalem was the right thing. It's what God wanted ultimately, but it wasn't the right way.

And so now Uzzah is there dead. And the people are wondering what happened. And David is wondering that too. He's confused. He's perplexed by this because it's such a good thing that he was doing. So how could this happen? Why would God allow this or why would God do this? Now later on, he figures it out. It's about three months later in 1 Chronicles 15, verse 13. He does this.

the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. But he explains to the Levites, he says, because you didn't do it the first time, because you didn't carry it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us because we did not consult him

about the proper order. And so David learns from this experience and he learns what happened the first time. Here's what happened. Here's why this tragedy struck in 1 Chronicles chapter 13. David says, because we did not consult God about the proper order.

And so this morning, as we look at chapter 13, I want to encourage you and remind you that there is no substitute for consulting God. That's the lesson that David learned. There is no substitute for consulting God. Here in chapter 13, we'll see David does lots of good things and they're all for good reasons.

It ends in tragedy because he forgot the most important thing, and that is to consult God. And there's a need for us to consult God about the proper order. The proper order for what? Well, you could think about it in many different aspects of your life. The order of your life and the decisions that you make and the steps that you take and the directions that you go.

the way that you handle situations. We need to consult God about the order, the proper order for the things that we do. Order within your family. Well, that's something you need to consult with God about as well. You need to hear from God how God wants your family to behave and to relate to one another and how he wants you to fulfill your part in the family.

And then, of course, for us in ministry, we need to be consulting with God about order within the church and order within, you know, events and services and the things that we do that we make sure that we're hearing from God and doing what God has called us to do. So there is no substitute for consulting God. We'll see here in the six different points that we'll walk through. These are good things that David did, but that

are not substitutes for consulting God. It's not enough to just do a bunch of good things. There has to be a time where you hear from God and allow him to give direction to what you're called to do. So no substitute for consulting God. The first point we find in verse one, consulting with leaders is not a substitute.

And so the first thing we see here in verse 1 is David consults with the leaders of Israel. In verse 1 it says, So David was not foolishly doing whatever he wanted without any counsel. He wasn't saying, I don't care what you guys think. I'm just going to do what I want. And I want to bring the ark into Jerusalem. He wasn't being foolish. He wasn't being foolish.

In fact, the scriptures tell us there's wisdom in seeking counsel, right? Where there's no counsel, the people fall. But in the multitude of counselors, there is safety. And of course, you and I know we can get ourselves into a lot of trouble by not seeking counsel.

by not asking leaders in our lives, leaders in the midst of us, what is appropriate for the situations that we're in and how to handle the things that are going on and how to do what it is that we want to do. There's a need for us to seek counsel and it's good to seek counsel and we should seek counsel. And David did good in seeking counsel and consulting with the leaders of Israel. He did consult with them and yet,

he still did the wrong thing. In verse 7, it tells us that they carried the ark of God on a new cart. So he sat down with the leaders. They had a discussion. Nobody brought up the fact that, well, here's how the ark of God is supposed to be moved from one place to another. Here's how the ark of God is supposed to be transferred. Here's how it's supposed to happen. Nobody thought about looking that up. Nobody thought about

considering what God has to say about it, he consulted with the leaders. The leaders were all on board. They thought, yeah, that's a good idea. Let's bring the ark of God into Jerusalem. And although all the leaders were on board, everybody thought it was a good idea. Everybody thought it was the right thing to do. Still, the oxen stumbled. In verse 9, Uzzah put out his hand to hold the ark for the oxen stumbled.

Even though all the leaders agreed, even though David sought counsel and had wisdom from these other leaders, the captains of thousands and hundreds and every leader, still Uzzah died. The Lord struck him, it says in verse 10, because he put his hand to the ark and he died there before God. And it's a powerful lesson that we need to learn. Consulting with leaders is not a substitute for consulting God. It's an important thing for us to do.

but it cannot take the place. It cannot be done instead of us seeking to hear from God. David Guzik says this, a group of godly men with good intention would soon make a significant mistake because they took counsel with each other, but not with the Lord. Good godly men, good godly people will make mistakes, and they'll especially make mistakes when they

Consult each other, but not the Lord. It's so important for us to get counsel, to get wisdom for our lives and for our situations. But it cannot take the place of you getting alone with God and hearing from Him what He wants in that situation.

Both need to take place. Both need to happen. We err if we go to the other side and say, well, all I need is just me and Jesus and I don't need any counsel from anybody. God hasn't designed us that way. He's designed us to need and to rely upon the counsel from others. But it's not a substitute. We can't just think that because leaders in our lives or leaders around us agree that it must be the right thing.

Parents can't assume just because mom and dad agree they're on the same page on this thing. That doesn't mean that it's necessarily the right answer. Even if you have great intentions and you might be godly, but is it what God has said or is it just what leaders have agreed upon? And so consulting with leaders is not a substitute for consulting God.

Then as we go on into verses 2 through 4, we find the second thing. And here we see that consulting with all the people is not a substitute. David did not just consult with a few leaders, you know, a few of his buddies who would always tell him yes anyways. And, you know, so they just said, oh yeah, sure, sounds good, David, go ahead and do what you want. Now we go on to see in verses 2 through 4, he actually talked to all the people of Israel. He did a public assembly. He did, you know, a widespread message. And

Kind of in a sense, you could say that, you know, they took a vote with all the people and it was unanimous. Verse 2, it says, And David said to all the assembly of Israel, If it seems good to you, and if it is of the Lord our God, let us send out to our brethren everywhere who are left in all the land of Israel, and with them to the priests and Levites who are in their cities and their common lands, that they might gather together to us.

And so David speaks to all Israel. And he says, hey guys, let's give God his rightful place in our nation again. Let's put God at the center once again. Let's give him priority once again.

And the people love this idea. In verse 4, it tells us, Everyone agrees. This is the right thing to do. This is a good idea. It's what we should do. It's so interesting to me as we look at this, though, that nobody thought to ask God about this. Nobody thought to look into the Word and see...

what God would have to say about this. Not even the priests and the Levites. He specifically reaches out to the priests and the Levites in verse 2. So he's bringing all the brethren together. And yeah, for sure, the common people, they're not going to know the details of the Levitical system. But the priests and the Levites, they should know some of these details. They should have known about the proper protocol for these things. And yet none of them looked into it. They didn't check it out.

Nobody thought to ask God what he thought about this. And it's important to pay attention to that because it's so easy for us to do the same thing. It's easy for us. We can get excited about something. This was something David was excited about. And it's a good idea. And we can get excited about good ideas that...

We have great things in mind. You know, we envision God being glorified. We envision God doing a work. And so we can get excited about things. And we ask other people. Maybe we ask leaders in our lives or other people around us. And we say, hey, what do you think about this? You know, I really would like to do this. I think this is a good thing. And the people say, oh, that's a great idea. And it kind of adds to our excitement. And so we

It's easy for us to go for it, to do the thing that we're excited about before any of us have really taken time to hear from God. Now, it can also happen in things that we're not excited about. Sometimes we have a problem that we're trying to resolve, and in trying to resolve this problem, we can only figure out there's just one thing, you know, one option that we have, or maybe one of two choices, and we're trying to evaluate which is the better choice. And

And so then we seek counsel on that and present our problem to people around us. And they say, oh yeah, it seems like this is the best solution. And so other people say, yeah, we don't see another way. And this kind of adds to our depression or, you know, dealing with this problem. And so we do it because, well, we sought counsel. And it's the only way I could figure out. They said the same thing. It's the only way, you know, we could figure out. And so we do what the people are in agreement with.

without hearing from God, consulting with all the people. If you're walking around talking to a bunch of different people, or if we have a big meeting, you know, to make a decision about something, we consult with the people. That's good. There's value in that, but it's not a substitute. Because here in the passage, we see even though David consulted with all the people, and even though all the people were on board and said, this is the right thing to do,

Well, still, David did the wrong thing. He did it the wrong way. Verse 7 tells us, So even though he had all this input, even though he had everybody in agreement with him, they put the ark of God on a new cart. So the oxen stumbled, in verse 9. And Uzzah reached out his hand to hold it up. And so Uzzah died because he touched the ark of God, which was forbidden.

There's no substitute for consulting God. Having everybody on board, talking to all the people, having everybody's agreement, taking a vote, making it unanimous, all of those things might be good. It's good to consult with people. But what is God saying? I spoke with a lady recently about a situation that she's facing, a problem that she has. And she was bringing the answer, at least in her mind, to me. And so she talked about

This person and what that person said and that person and what they said and then this person and she had this whole plan worked out. So here's what we got to do. We got to talk to this person and then he'll talk to this person and then we'll come and meet and then we'll do this and we'll do this. And she had the whole plan and essentially the question was, you know, will you join in on this plan? And so as we went through this,

I began to ask her, but what is God saying? You've talked to this person and this person is an expert. And so, you know, you have what they have to say and you have what they have to say and you have what this person has to say and you've got all this figured out. What is the Lord saying about this? And that's something important that we need to,

to consider when we're facing dilemmas and problems and situations. But it's also important to consider when we're excited about something and it's for good things and we have great things in mind and we want to glorify God. We need to make sure that we consult God, that we hear from God. And on the other side of that, when you're one of the people that are brought in for consultation, you need to make sure when people consult you, that you point them to God.

Of course, we all know how it feels. It feels great to be the one that provides a solution. It feels great. We love to share our opinion. It's kind of more difficult to, you know, share something contrary to what the rest of the people are saying. That can be hard for some occasions and sometimes. But the best thing for us to do is to help them hear from God. The best thing in this situation would have been if one of the priests or Levites said,

Can we just pause for a second? Because I think I remember something about the ark. I think I remember some specific instruction. It's in the word there. If we could just take a moment to dig in, to check that out, because it might be really important. They would have discovered the right way. They would have discovered what God had to say about it and would have had an opportunity to go through this process without any tragedy.

And so when people come to you for consultation, when they're asking your counsel, your advice, the best thing that you can do is to help them hear from God. It's not necessarily to share your opinion or to provide a great solution, but our job is to help them hear from God, help them hear what God has to say, because ultimately that's going to be the best thing for them.

And so consulting with all the people is not a substitute for consulting God. Going on into verse 3, very similar. Gathering all the people is not a substitute for consulting God. In verse 5 it says, So David gathered all Israel together from Shihur in Egypt to as far as the entrance of Hamath to bring the ark of God from Kirjath-Jerim.

Here David, we see, goes to great lengths to get all the people together. He goes all the way as far south as possible to Shihur in Egypt. And then he goes all the way farthest north possible to the entrance of Hamath, the river up there.

He's reaching out. This would have been all the people who had been scattered throughout Saul's reign, throughout the time of the judges, people who kind of dispersed and spread out. And so it's, you know, the nation of Israel, but the actual boundaries and borders of the nation of Israel were smaller than what's being referenced here under the reign of Saul.

Because of the enemies around, you know, people had been dispersed and isolated and off by themselves and different communities here and there. And so David's seeking to unite all of the people once again, bringing them all back. And so he's going to great lengths, going as far south as possible, going as far north as possible to gather the people together.

These were Jews that he was reaching out to, but they were not as connected to the nation as they once were. In verse 6, So David gathers, he reaches out to the far north, the far south. He gathers this large mass of people.

And the whole group comes together for this, to bring the ark to Jerusalem. This had to have been an impressive gathering. And yet, even though David gathered all the people, even though there was this great unity, and there was great unity in the hearts of the people saying, yes, let's bring the ark of God to Jerusalem. Even though there was all this, still the oxen stumbled. And still Uzzah reached out his hand.

To steady the ark. And he died there before God. Verse 10 says. Gathering all the people. Having a great gathering. Having an awesome gathering. With people all united together. Having a heart and a mind to glorify God. Having a heart and a mind to bring God to the center. And put him in his rightful place. That is not a substitute. For actually hearing from God. That idea is.

phrase that's, you know, sometimes thrown out there. There's some things that are too big to fail, right? That's what our nation said a while back. And so we had to bail out different companies and different areas of commerce and such. These things are too big to fail. We can't let them fail. It'd be too disastrous if it fails. When it comes to God, as far as God is concerned, nothing is too big to fail. He will let things fail. Even if it's this great gathering of

I mean, part of me says, as I look at this passage, I mean, God, can't you maybe budge a little on this? I mean, look at this great gathering of people, and they want the right thing. What they want is good. What they're trying to do is good. And look at all these people that are, and they're all here, God. They're all here. They took the time to come. Some of them have traveled very far. I mean, okay, I understand it's not exactly right, but...

You know, if you read ahead into chapter 15, you see all this happens again. David has to gather all these people again. Lord, it'd be much more efficient to just let this happen now. I mean, they're all here. It's happening right now. Just, can you just like let them have a pass? You know, just let it go. It's going to be a lot of trouble to try to do this again in three months, especially after a failure like this. I mean,

It's going to be pretty tough for David to gather all these people back again. All right, let's try this again and gather out the whole nation. Part of me says, why don't you just let it happen? I mean, there's so many people here united in this and wanting to do something that's good. But we need to make sure that we do not glorify the gathering instead of glorifying God. We place great value on the gathering. Lord, a lot of people want this. We're all together. It's a big deal.

But more important than that is what God thinks and what God says and the honor and glory of God. We need to make sure that we don't glorify the effort instead of glorifying God. We can glorify the effort and lift up the effort and look at how hard these people have worked. We can look at how hard, you know, how much energy I've spent in this thing. Like, it's the classic thing, right? Like,

Lord, here's what I'm going to do. And now would you bless it? And, you know, we work hard. And Lord, I've worked hard on this. Would you please bless it? But that's backwards. And sometimes we glorify the effort. We glorify the gathering. We glorify, you know, the unity. We glorify what we've done in bringing people together. We glorify that instead of glorifying God. But God does not share his glory. And so to glorify God, there's no substitute for consulting him. There's no substitute.

It doesn't matter how many leaders we consult. It doesn't matter how many people we consult or how big of a gathering or how many people we get on our side or how many people we get united with us in heart and mind. God doesn't share his glory. We need to humble ourselves and hear from God. And that's more important than anything else. Well, moving on to point number four here in verse seven.

The best equipment is not a substitute. In verse 7, so they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah and Ahio drove the cart. They had the best equipment for this transfer. To move the ark from Kirjath-Jerim to Jerusalem, they had a new cart that they used. They didn't find some old rickety cart, you know, behind a barn or

Just kind of move the hay off it, dust it off. All right, this should do. They didn't find some old beat up thing and it's like, all right, let's just try it. Again, their efforts were honorable. They were thinking, hey, you know, this is the ark of God. It shouldn't just be put on some old cart that's been used to haul manure.

It should be a new cart. This was possibly a cart that was custom made for this occasion. Let's build a cart specifically for the ark to move the ark from here to there. It was something that they were thoughtful about. It was something that they did in their minds to honor God and to honor this ark that he had commanded Moses to make. But God wasn't impressed.

They had the best equipment, but still the oxen stumbled. And still Uzzah reached out his hand and touched it and died there before God. Because they did the best that they could and they had great intentions, noble thoughts, but the best equipment is not a substitute. As it comes to things of our life, it's easy for us to rely upon our great equipment and

We got great things. We have awesome information at our fingertips. And how many times can we just Google it? But we Google it and then we don't consult God sometimes. Or we just YouTube it, right? Just, you know, I love YouTube for trying to fix things, right? You can find a YouTube video to fix pretty much anything. And then you just got to watch it and try to copy it. It's like, okay, you know, great. I got it.

It's great, the technology we have, the equipment that we have, the things that we can do with that. Awesome. And sometimes even with great intentions and what we want to do is to honor God with it. But at the same time, we have to take a moment to hear from God, to consult God and say, is this what you want? Is this how you want me to handle this broken faucet? You want me just to YouTube it and fix it? Is this how you want me to handle this situation, this conversation, this discussion? How do you want me to handle things?

that I'm dealing with. We have great equipment, but it's not a substitute. Great technology, great information. We can get all kinds of details about all kinds of things, but it doesn't take the place of hearing from God. It doesn't take the place of consulting Him. Staying here in verse 7 for point number 5, here we see that copying what worked for others is

Here in verse 7, again, it says, This is a way to move the ark that had been done before, but it wasn't done by the nation of Israel. It was done by the Philistines. You might remember back in the days of the prophet Samuel, the ark of God was taken into battle because the people thought, well,

We failed in this battle, but if we bring the ark of God, then it will save us. And they were being superstitious about the ark in that way. And so they took the ark into battle. They were defeated. And the Philistines took the ark of God into their custody. But then God showed up and helped them to understand Jesus.

The ark of God really is important to him and his presence was there. And so as they placed the ark of God in their different temples, he was causing their idols to fall down and to be broken apart. And he was causing disease and sickness to afflict the people in the city where the ark of God was taken. And so finally the Philistines come to the end of themselves and say, we got to send this back to Israel or we're going to die because, you know, this is a real God and this God is powerful. And so as they,

decide they need to do that, they figure out the way to do that is to put the ark of God on a cart. In 1 Samuel 6, verse 11, it says, "...they," that's the Philistines, "...set the ark of the Lord on the cart and the chest with the gold rats and the images of their tumors." And so these were offerings that they sent along with the ark to the nation of Israel to try to pay back for their sins.

but so they used this method they put the ark on a cart they sent it on its way and the cart led by these oxen came to cure jethjerim and there it stayed until david's about to move it and so it's been done before it's a method that worked and so perhaps that's why they used this method because they remembered oh yeah well the reason why it's here how it got here was it came on a new cart

And so David used a method that had worked for others. And yet still the oxen stumbled. And still Uzzah reached out his hand and touched the ark. And he died there before God because he touched the ark that God had forbidden for the people to touch. Now, looking around and learning from other people's examples can be a very good thing. It can be.

We have the saying, right? Why reinvent the wheel? And that's appropriate. We can learn a lot from other people's successes and failures, but it's not a substitute. Just because it worked for someone else doesn't mean that that's what God wants for you. Just because it worked in a similar situation in somebody else's life doesn't mean that that's the way that God wants to work in your situation.

And a lot of times when we get counsel from other people, it's like, well, what my cousin did when they were in that situation, you know, and it's what they did. Okay, so why don't you go do that? Because that's what they did and it worked. And sometimes we, well, maybe more frequent than sometimes, a lot of times we give counsel that way as well. Even possibly sharing examples from our own lives. Oh yeah, well, it was when I started, you know, tithing this amount. That's, man, God really did a different work, a new work in my life. And that's when my finances came together and

So you should do that. Tithe as I tithe and do what I did. Well, here's what I handled when I had this situation in my marriage. And so here's what I did. And it worked. And look how God has worked. And wow, it's so great. So you should do what I do. You should follow the pattern that I have. And well, hey, if you really want to grow in your spiritual walk, here's the book that I read that helped me to grow. And so here's the book that you need to read. You must read this because

Well, then for sure you'll grow. But the thing is, methods that have worked for others are not a substitute for consulting God. If you want to grow in your walk with God, you're going to need more than just what worked for other people. If you're going to really want God to do a work in your marriage, you're going to need more than just what happened in somebody else's marriage. If you want God to work in your life, it's going to require more than just learning from other people's successes and failures. It's appropriate to learn, but

But you also need to hear from God and to know that God wants this or that, or maybe he doesn't. He uses a variety of ways. We often talk about the healing methods of Jesus, right? He used different methods to heal people throughout his ministry because he doesn't always do the same thing exactly the same way. And so there's no substitute for consulting God, not even what's worked for other people.

Well, finally, verse 8, we have point number 6, and that is worshiping God is not a substitute. Verse 8 says,

Here we have an awesome time of worship. Remember, all of Israel is gathered here. I mean, this is a massive gathering, an incredible time of worship. And notice it says that they worship the Lord with all their might. This is when heavy metal was born.

I mean, they were just worshiping God with everything they had. And there's great variety, harps and strings and tambourines and cymbals and trumpets, all these different instruments. And they're singing and they're playing and they're worshiping God. It must have been incredible, powerful. They were caught up in this moment of excitement. And again, notice they're worshiping God. They're desiring to glorify God, to honor his name. Could something that inspires that kind of worship happen?

be wrong as they have this awesome worship time. Still, the oxen stumbled. Still, Uzzah reached out his hand and touched the ark and he died there before God because he touched the ark. Having a heart of worship and desiring to worship God and having a great gathering where we all cry out to God, having those types of experiences are awesome and important and good for us, but it's not a substitute for consulting God.

Just to have a heart that says, I want to worship you, God, doesn't make up for a disregard or even an ignorance for the word of God and the instructions of God. Worship does not make up for disobedience. In the same way that we would recognize that giving to God doesn't cover up a disregard for his word. All right, God, well, I'm going to disregard you in this. I don't care what you say about this. I'm going to go ahead and sin in that way, but I'm going to give extra, you know, to you so that, you know,

You'll know I still love you. It doesn't work that way. Worship is great. We need to worship God. But we also need to hear from God. And one of the ways that we worship God is we spill our Starbucks on the back table. No. One of the ways that we worship God is we humble ourselves to sit and hear from God, to consult Him, and to do what He says in our lives. That's what God desires from us. That's what God requires from us.

And so this morning, I would like to remind you, there is no substitute for consulting God. There's all kinds of good things. All of these things that David did are good. You can consult with leaders. That's good. You can consult with a bunch of people, and that can be good to a point, but you get the point. There's all the people in agreement. That's good. Gathering all the people together. You can have an impressive gathering. You can go to great lengths to get people united and together, but that doesn't mean that God's going to bless it. You can have the best equipment, the best

most awesome technology, the best and latest information and research and studies. You can have all of that, but that's not a substitute. Those are good things. You can learn from other people's experiences, successes and failures, but that's not a substitute either. And you can have a heart of worship and desire to praise God and worship God. But in addition to all those things, you actually need to stop and hear from God.

And if David would have stopped and heard from God, if he would have taken time to study the word of God, he would have had a very completely different type of day. At the end of the chapter, we're not going to get into it, but you see David confused. He's like, how can I bring the ark of God to me? He's frustrated. He's perplexed.

I know God wants it here. I know this is what God wants to do, but how can I do it if this is what it's going to take, if people are going to die as a result? How can I do it? And it says he's angry with God. But here's what I love about David. In two chapters, he regroups and tries again, this time having sought God out and heard from God. And he's able to say, here's why it didn't work the first time. He didn't just give up because he failed. Can you imagine how embarrassing that is?

Can you imagine sending out your invitation to all the nation, bringing them, having this spectacular failure right in front of them? I mean, I kind of wonder how it played out. Uzzah dies, and David's angry, and he just walks off like, how can I bring the ark of God to me? And the rest of Israel is looking at each other like, well, I guess we're just going home then. And then three months later, they get the invite. And David's like, OK, guys, I know I messed up last time. I know I kind of just left you there, you know, but

We want to try it again. We think we've got it figured out now. We've heard from the Lord. It must have been pretty humbling for David, which is what he needed. He needed to humble himself to consult with God. And then he was able to bring the ark of God into its rightful place. There's no substitute for consulting God. Humble ourselves. Humble yourself to seek him, to spend time in his word, to walk with him.

Paul tells us in Romans chapter 12, verse 2, to not be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. God wants you to know his will, but he doesn't just write it there and make it easy. He doesn't just put it in the minds of all the leaders so you can just seek counsel and then, okay, we got it. He doesn't just put it in the mind of all the people so you can just gather them all together, seek counsel, okay, we got it. He says,

Stop being conformed. Be renewed in your mind so that you can prove what God's will is. You're going to have to work at it. You're going to have to humble yourself and consult God. Spend time with Him and seek Him out and wait to hear from Him. There's no substitute for that. We want to close the service as usual in a time of prayer. So I'll pray and then I'll open it up. And as you feel led, you can be bold and pray for God.

in your own situations if there's things going on or you can be praying for the service that's coming up, second service and the ministry that would be happening here or whatever the Lord puts upon your heart. But let's take some time to just talk with God. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and Lord, this important and needed reminder, God, that what we need most is you and your word and your thoughts, your direction, your will, your plans. And Lord, it's not always easy.

to hear from you what you desire and the instruction that you want to give, even though you want us to know your will. Lord, you've presented yourself in a way that requires that we actually seek you, that we actually desire to know you, that we actually take time to hear from you. And so, God, I pray that you would help us to do that. Help us, Lord, to humble ourselves and to glorify you. And Lord, not to place our faith and our trust in

the multitude of counselors that we have, or the great technology that we have, or all the information that we have, or all the agreement and unity of the people that we have, or our great intentions, Lord, and our desires for you to be glorified. Lord, I pray that you would help us not to trust in those things, but Lord, help us to sit with you, to look to you, to hear from you. And Lord, you promise if we lack wisdom, we can ask and you will answer.

And so, Lord, you will answer. You will reveal your will to us. You will give us direction in our lives. I pray that you would help us to take the time to receive that from you. In addition, Lord, to all these other helps that you've provided, the counsel that is good, the worship that is good, the information and the gathering of people, it's all good, God. And help us, Lord, to not disregard and disconnect, Lord, from those things, but

But Lord, help us not to rely on those things so that we don't rely upon you and that we don't take time to hear from you. I pray that you'd speak to our hearts, Lord, in our lives, in our situations, in our families, in our workplaces, and all the decisions that have to be made. Help us, Lord, to hear your voice, to have your heart and your mind on the things that we do. In Jesus' name I pray.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.