When Kings Stay Home

Recap

Over the last couple of weeks we've been looking at why finishing well is so rare, and the patterns behind leaders who don't make it.

We looked at Moses and Solomon - both started strong, both drifted after success. And last week we saw King Uzziah - how his success led to pride, and how pride dressed itself up as religion.

Today I want to show you another way we drift and that’s being out of position - out of the place God has called us to be.

David and Bathsheba

The story of David and Bathsheba is one everyone knows. But I want you to notice something you might have missed. Look at how 2 Samuel 11 starts:

2 Samuel 11:1-2 (NIV) 

In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful.

If you’re familiar with David’s story, you’ll know this woman is Bathsheba. David sends for her, sleeps with her, and she falls pregnant.

This is obviously not a good decision by David. The writer helps us to see what led to him making the decision in the first place. Look at the start of the chapter again…

"In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war."

The writer is telling us that David should have been somewhere else. The regular rhythm for Kings in the spring was that they led their armies into war. Usually because they didn’t go to war during the cold and rainy winter weather.

But for a reason we aren’t given, David sent Joab and he stayed behind in Jerusalem. Just the chapter before, we see that Joab led the army against the Syrians and the Ammonites but didn’t win convincingly until David led them into battle instead. So David must have known his presence on the battlefield made a difference, but he didn’t go.

And so he had the time to walk around on the roof and spot Bathsheba. Which means David’s mistake with Bathsheba didn't start when he saw her on the rooftop, it started before that, when he was out of position - out of rhythm. Or put another way, out of the place his calling required him to be.

The Importance of Rhythms

We all have rhythms, don't we? Daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. There are seasons when we're meant to be active in certain areas. Times when "kings go to war," so to speak.

And when we fall out of those rhythms, when we're not where we're supposed to be, we become vulnerable to drift in ways we might not even realise.

I’ll make this practical for us with a few examples.

Maybe it's your prayer rhythm that’s off. You used to have a set time and a set place. You'd meet with God first thing in the morning, or on your lunch break, or before bed. But life got busy, something disrupted the pattern, and now you're just praying when you remember. You’re out of rhythm.

Or maybe it's Sabbath. You used to guard that day of rest but work demands increased, opportunities came up, and slowly that rhythm disappeared. And you told yourself you'd rest later, when things calmed down. But you’ve never managed to pick the rhythm back up.

Or maybe it's community. You used to be deeply connected with a small group of friends who really knew you, and who could speak into your life. But you moved, or got hurt by someone, or just got busy. And now you're feeling isolated.

I'm not trying to guilt you here. I'm just saying - when we're out of rhythm, we're out of position. And when we're out of position, we're vulnerable to drifting.

Uzzah's Story

Let me connect this to another story about David, because there's a pattern. David was out of position because he was out of seasonal rhythm - not where he should have been at that time. But there's another way to be out of position - and that's doing things out of order, doing them the wrong way, even with good intentions.

Earlier in 2 Samuel 6, David tries to bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. The ark represented God's presence. And David wanted to bring it back to the people of Israel where it belonged.

But 2 Samuel 6:3 documents how they started to move the ark:

2 Samuel 6:3 (NIV)

They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart.

A new cart. That sounds good, they got the best cart they could find for God's ark.

Except it was directly against God's command. The ark was never meant to be transported on a cart. Numbers 4:15 tells them how to move the ark - the Levites, specifically the family of Kohath, were to carry it on their shoulders using poles.

God wanted the ark to be carried, maybe because He didn’t want anything mechanical or normal to represent His presence. The ark was constructed super specifically, with lots of fine materials. To pop it on a cart seems irreverent. Instead, it was meant to be a burden carried by people, not a pretty object or talisman pulled by oxen. After all, this was about relationship more than efficiency.

But maybe they looked at the Philistines, who'd returned the ark on a cart back in 1 Samuel 6, and thought, "Well, if it worked for them, it'll work for us."

They borrowed a method from people who didn't know God, instead of consulting God's word about how He actually wanted to be approached.

When Uzzah Touched the Ark

So they're bringing the ark to Jerusalem. There's music, celebration, a big production. And then this happens:

2 Samuel 6:6-7 (NIV)

When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 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.

God struck him down, right there next to the ark.

Numbers 4:15 had been clear: "They must not touch the holy things or they will die."

Now, Uzzah's action seems understandable, doesn't it? The ark was falling. He was just trying to help. Surely God would understand that his heart was in the right place?

Maybe, maybe not. The ark had been in Uzzah's father's house for 20 years. According to 1 Samuel 7, it stayed there the whole time. Which means Uzzah had grown up with it in his home. He'd seen it every day of his life. And maybe, he'd become familiar with it.

And familiarity can lead us to treat holy things casually. We can lose reverence. Or as we’ve been mentioning throughout this series, we can lose our holy fear.

Could it be that Uzzah touched the ark because somewhere along the way, he'd stopped seeing it as the presence of God and started seeing it as just another religious object? Something he knew, something safe, something he could manage.

If we’re being brutal about it, he thought the ground was less holy than his own hand, and assumed that God needed his help to keep the ark safe.

When really, the issue was never about the ark falling, the issue was about doing things God's way, not our own.

The Second Attempt

David was angry at first. Confused. He couldn't understand why his good intentions weren't enough.

So the ark stayed at Obed-Edom's house for three months. And God blessed Obed-Edom. When things were done the right way, in the right order, God's presence brought blessing.

So David tried again. But this time, he did his homework. He went back to God's word.

1 Chronicles 15:13 records David's realisation: 

It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.

The prescribed way. God's way is always better than the impressive way, the innovative way, even the way that seemed to work for someone else. God’s way is the obedient way.

So this time, the Levites carried it on their shoulders, just as God had commanded. And look what happens in 2 Samuel 6:

When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might.

Every six steps, he sacrificed. It's excessive, over the top. But David wasn't holding back anymore. He was all in and he danced before the Lord with all his might.

The Pattern

So how do these stories link? Whether it's David staying in Jerusalem when he should have been at war, or Uzzah approaching God's presence the wrong way, the issue is the same: they're both out of position before God. One lost his rhythm, the other lost God's prescribed order, and both lost holy fear.

When we're out of rhythm, we don't always fall into obvious sin like David did with Bathsheba. Sometimes we just become less effective, and therefore less fruitful. We become vulnerable to drift.

And when that happens, we try to make things work in our own strength, carrying the weight on "new carts" of our own making, when what we really need is to get back in position before God and do things His way.

The Good News

But there’s good news, don’t worry. David didn’t stay out of position.

Yes, he had to deal with the consequences of his decisions with Bathsheba - and they were devastating - but David went back to God. He repented and at this point he wrote Psalm 51 pouring out his heart: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

And you know what God said about David? Even after all this? He called him “a man after my own heart.”

Not a perfect man but a man after God’s heart.

And with the ark, David got it right the second time. He followed God’s instruction with extravagant worship.

The second attempt took longer and it was more humbling, but it was right.

So if you’re sitting there thinking about the rhythms you’ve lost, the ways you’ve become too familiar with God, the places you’re out of position - please hear this: it’s never too late to get back.

David did. And God still used him, still loved him, and still called him His own.

Application

So let me ask you - and I'm asking myself this too - what rhythms have you lost?

What used to be non-negotiable that's now optional?

Where have you become overly familiar with holy things, making your relationship with God become routine instead of alive?

And here's the harder question. Where are you supposed to be right now that you're not?

Is there a season you're in - a "spring when kings go to war" - but you've stayed behind? Or is there a calling you've stepped away from?

The good news is that it's not too late to get back in rhythm.

Question

What rhythm have you lost that you need to reclaim?

Prayer

Lord, show us where we're out of position. Show us where we've become too familiar with You, where we've lost our sense of awe. Help us get back in rhythm with You - not because we're trying to be good, but because we desperately want to be close to You. Give us the courage to do things Your way, even when our way seems easier or more efficient. In Jesus's name, amen.