Seeking God After The Due Order
by Linda Mershon

February 1, 2012

“For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.” 1Chronicles 15:13

In reading my devotions recently, the above phrase stood out. David said that God had made a breach upon them because they “sought him not after due order.”

Let us go into the history of this statement.

First of all the ark of the Lord had been taken in a battle with the Philistines (I Samuel 4:17). The Philistines took the ark and brought it to their land and sent it to various cities, because God judged each city where they took the ark. Even their idol god, Dagon, fell over several times in the presence of the ark. (I Samuel 5:1-7)

Therefore, the Philistines deemed it too dangerous for the ark to remain in their country so they put it on a new cart with gold offerings and had it drawn by two milch kine which never had a yoke upon them and shut up their calves at home. Then, they let them go to see if it really was the God of Israel that caused all their calamities. The kine went straight to Bethshemesh. The kine took the ark back home. The men at Bethshemesh sent to the men at Kirjathjearin to come and fetch the ark because God had judged them for looking in the ark and killed 50070 men. Therefore it went to Abinadab’s house and his son Eleazar was sanctified to keep the ark and it was there 20 years. (I Samuel 5,6)

In 2 Samuel 6, it tells about David wanting to bring the ark back to him in Jerusalem. They put it on a new cart and had men driving the cart. When it came to a threshing floor, the oxen stumbled and Uzzah took hold of the ark because the oxen shook it. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah and he killed him there. No one was to touch any of the holy things. (Numbers 4:15) Therefore, David was afraid to bring the ark back to him and took it to Obededom’s house where it remained for 3 months, and the Lord blessed Obededom because of the ark (1 Chronicles 13).

In 1 Chronicles 15, David again tries to bring the ark home to him in Jerusalem. This time he did it in due order. 1Ch 15:12,13 says “And said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it. For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.” God had never told them to carry the ark on a cart. That was the Philistines’ idea – it was the world’s way and it ended in tragedy. The goal was good, the desire was good, but it was done in the wrong way. God had said the Levites were to carry the ark on their shoulders. “And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD.” (1Ch 15:15) This was commanded in Exodus 25:14.

So, what lesson can we learn from this? We may have a good goal, we may have a right desire, but if it is not done God’s way, according to God’s word, it is wrong and will have consequences. Before we do anything, we must be sure it is in accordance with the Word of God. Seek God after the due order.