Doing Right The Right Way

Read: 2 Samuel 6:1-9

“And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.”—2 Samuel 6:6-7

Doing things by “the book” keep us from making the same mistakes over and over. The book tells us there is a right way—and a wrong way to do everything. The book in this case—Exodus 25:12-15, Numbers 4:15, and Numbers 7:9—specified the Ark was to be transported on the shoulders of the priests, using poles made of acacia wood looped through gold rings on the Ark. The Ark wasn’t to be touched by human hands.

Despite the guidelines, when David decided to move it from Baale of Judah to Jerusalem, the Ark was transported on an ox cart. When the oxen stumbled, Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark, and died instantly. David and the people were doing a good thing, but doing it the wrong way. And Uzzah paid for that error with his life. Uzzah’s death is a sobering reminder of what can happen when we do God’s work irreverently or by using shortcuts that bypass “the book.”

It’s important to do the right things in life. It’s more important still to do the right things the right way. Even when well-intended, doing right the wrong way can result in the wrong results. Yet it is more than our actions being done “by the book.” Doing the right thing the right way requires doing right for the right reasons and motives.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught outward obedience to the law without inward sanctification to the spirit of the law is still disobedience (Matthew 5:21-48).  Whether it is worship, giving, or serving, doing so with impure motives or in a spirit of reluctance is the wrong way. Everything good thing we do should be done the right way—God’s way.