It's not really the thought that counts.

I apologize for the break in writing. I know its hard to believe, but i don't live with inspiration oozing out of my pores. Plus it's been a crazy week. I got back from a great trip to Indiana and hit the ground running. I'm packing in lots of friend time. When one moves, one's friends come out of the wood-work and demand all of one's spare hang-out time. (which can be challenging when one has limited funds to spend on the plethora of outings facing her)

*quick break to skype the cute niece*

Ok I'm back. So today in church, we had a visiting minister from St. Louis, and he said some things that really caught my attention.

We read the story in Chronicles of the moving of the Ark of the Covenant. I used to wonder why this story was included, but Loren made a really interesting point.

For those of you who don't know, or are a bit fuzzy, I'll give a quick re-cap. It is a relatively short story...but basically, King David acknowledges that the Ark has been neglected under the rule of former King Saul and calls for it to be moved from the house of this guy Abinadab. This was no small affair. He called all the people from South by Egypt to way up north for this event of moving the Ark. They put it on a new cart for transportation, which was guided by these two guys, Uzzah and Ahio. Then everyone was playing music as loud as they could with all kinds of instruments. I believe the words in my translation were "Celebrating before God with all their might."

Then it happened. I can picture it now. Everyone is singing and playing music loudly, following this in this procession. The roads are rough and have dips and potholes, due to exposure to the elements and frequent travel. The oxen pulling the cart step wrong and stumble, causing the cart to lurch. Not wanting this precious oracle to suffer harm and fall off the wagon, Uzzah reaches out his hand and touches the Ark to steady it.

In that moment, God's anger burned against Uzzah, because he touched the Ark, and he struck him dead, on the spot. Just like that.

I'm sure everyone was stunned. This man literally touched the Ark (a seemingly harmless thing to do) and then dropped over dead.

David didn't understand and got upset with God's outburst of anger. It didn't seem fair at ALL! The guy was just trying to make sure that the sacred Ark was not damaged. But God made it very clear how the Ark was to be handled...and touching it was not part of the deal at ALL.

So now here we sit, wondering why God struck him dead. The thing is, WE are judging the situation by the action/outcome...not by the intention. All we see is the fact that the Ark was falling, and a man steadied it. No big deal, right? And like David, we rush to judging God's decision to strike him dead. This is because we do not understand the intention behind what God did.

How come I judge people so much more harshly than myself? Because I know my intentions, and all I see is their actions. When someone speaks a sharp word, I wonder why they can't control themselves or hold their tongue. But when i speak a sharp word, I know it was just because I had a bad day, or received some rough news, so I have grace for myself.

I cannot begin to understand God. I feel sorta sad for Uzzah. But I cannot judge God's actions. I do know that God takes his law very seriously. There is no excuse for disobeying what God so carefully put in place.

All that to say...here's what I learned.

Lesson regarding myself: Good intentions are not enough. The actions must follow. I cannot doing a wrong action while saying in my head, "well it's not REALLY my intention to be doing this right now...I should be acting better, but I'm doing the best I can." or telling someone after yelling at them, "Well I didn't WANT to yell at you, you just frustrated me so much." (that's a classic blame-shift and good-intention excuse...i've used/thought it many a time, sadly)

Lesson regarding others: Do not judge what we do not know or about that which we assume. We can only truly "pass judgment" or draw conclusions based on God's Word and the Holy Spirit...and even then, we have to be really, REALLY attentive and sure of what God is saying.


So they say it's the thought that counts. But we all know that falls short when said to us in a trite way that disregards the blatantly hurtful actions of the person saying it. When we face Almighty God (the TRUE and ONLY judge) on the Last Day, he won't be saying, "Oh, well i know your intentions were to be a good person...so i'll excuse you're sinful actions." No, no. To whom much is given, much is required. we'll be held accountable for our actions.