No Hand-Outs
By Grant Gaines
It was one of the greatest days in the world’s history. Beginning in late 1944, WWII began to settle down and the Jews that were held in German concentration camps were liberated. But there was still one problem—the American troops that freed the Jewish victims were ordered to go against every natural instinct by not feeding the starving inhabitants.
The reason for this command was actually to protect the recently liberated Jews. Apparently the extended period of malnutrition caused their digestive systems to become so weak that they could not digest normal food without causing serious damage. But some soldiers couldn’t help themselves and felt that they needed to help by offering their own food rations to the Jews. Unfortunately this act of kindness often led to the prisoners’ own demise.
I believe we have the tendency to do the same—when something isn’t going as we expected or planned, we prematurely spring into action and end up making a rash decision. Of course we never meant to cause any trouble, in fact, we were only trying to solve the problem. But when we misalign ourselves with God’s will, even when it’s with good intentions, we often end up acting towards our own detriment just as Uzzah did in 2 Samuel 6.
If you’re not familiar with Uzzah’s story, that’s ok—he’s not one of the major players in the Biblical narrative. However, if we take a look at his story we can learn a thing or two about taking steps towards our own destruction by playing God through manipulating our circumstances.
To give you some background, Uzzah was a servant of the King David in the early days of his regime over Israel. After accepting the crown and subduing his enemies, one of David’s first tasks as the king of Israel was to bring the Ark of the Lord from the small town of Kiriath Jearim (1 Samuel 5:1-7:1) to Israel’s capital of Jerusalem.
This was the task that Uzzah and his brother Ahio undertook as 2 Samuel 6 opens up. The brothers loaded the Ark of the Lord on a brand new cart with several oxen pulling it (2 Samuel 6:3) as they headed for Jerusalem. Everything was going well—the mood was so lively that, “David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD…” (2 Samuel 6:5, NIV) as the Ark proceeded along the windy countryside. It was the event of a lifetime—the Ark was finally returning to its rightful place!
But the attitudes completely changed when one of the oxen stumbled which caused the Ark of the Lord to fall. It was at this point that Uzzah had a choice to make—he could either catch the Ark even though it was against God’s Law for anyone other than a Levite (which Uzzah was not) to touch the Ark for any circumstance (Numbers 4:15, 20) or he could trust that God, the One who created the heavens and the earth with a breath (Genesis 1:1), could sustain the Ark through the fall.
Unfortunately, Uzzah decided to literally take the situation into his own hands as he, “…reached out his hand and steadied the Ark of God” (2 Samuel 6:6, NLT). Wrong choice! And while he had good intentions and only wanted to help the situation, Uzzah broke the Lord’s commands and as a result, “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” (2 Samuel 6:7, NIV).
Though many of our situations are not life or death like Uzzah’s, I believe that we all “reach out our hand” rather often in an attempt to help God, “…work all things together for [our] good,” (Romans 8:28, NIV) when times are tough.
Business is going poorly, so in order to help God “…surround [us] with [His] favor as a shield” (Psalms 5:12, NIV), we cut some corners to bring in that big paycheck. Your dating life isn’t what you expected it to be, so in order to help God find you that “right one”, you lower your standards. Or your wallet is getting lighter and lighter so in order to help God provide for your family, you tithe less and save more.
One way or another, we all have the tendency of “reaching out our hand” when things aren’t looking good. But it’s in these times that don’t look good that God doesn’t need a helping hand but rather an unfailing faith. For it’s in these times that don’t look good that we must follow the advice of 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV) and, “…walk by faith, not by sight.” It’s in these trying times that we, “Trust in the LORD with all [our] heart and lean not on [our] own understanding; in all [our] ways [we] submit to Him, [knowing that] He will make [our] paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV).
Where are you “reaching out your hand” to help God today? Is it in your job, your relationships, or your health? Whatever it may be, have confidence today that while the situation may be over your head, it is still under God’s feet.
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
—Psalms 46:10 (ESV)
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
