Our Secret Weapon

The whole story in 2 Samuel 6: 1-11 is a little confusing isn't it. It seems as though Uzzah is doing the right thing. Just trying to take care of God. But instead,God strikes him dead. David Guzik explains this in a way that makes it easy for us to understand. There we learn that in David's eagerness to bring the ark to Jerusalem, He choose to disobey God's instructions. The ark was not guided by the Levites, the ark was pulled, not carried, then Uzzah touched it. The commentary says:

i. Uzzah made a decision in a moment to disregard God's command and do what seemed right to him. Even our decisions made in a moment matter before God.

We do this often in our lives, don't we? At least I do. I listen to people nowadays, and everything seems to be okay to them--living without sexual purity, having abortions, drinking, drugs. Everything is everyone's choice (this part is true), and they don't seem to make the connection to following God's choice. We've become blind and deaf to being the holy people God has called us to be. It's hard, isn't it? It's hard to live a holy life. It's hard to speak the truth in love.

This is what is so wonderful about praying scripture. It's our own secret weapon against the apathy in our families and society. It's our secret weapon against the apathy in ourselves. I love how putting my name in a verse makes it come alive for me in my situation. I love how I can take a verse and say "thank you" to God for the attributes that are listed there. I love how we can do as Beth suggests and pray verses for our family and trust that God will hear those prayers. I love how He strengthens us when it feels to us as though our prayers are not being heard. I love how He gives us friends (and sometimes strangers) to help us through. One of the verses that helps me through is John 6:57 (amplified):

Just as the Living Father sent me and I live by (through, because of) the Father, even so whoever continues to feed on me (whoever takes me for his food and is nourished by me) shall (in his turn) live through and because of me.

I hope the Father is nourishing you this week . . .