Have I Lost My Awe for God? (Part 1)

When the Holy Becomes Familiar

2 Samuel 6:6–7

“When they came to Nacon’s threshing floor, Uzzah reached out to the ark of God and took hold of it because the oxen had stumbled. Then the Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah, and God struck him dead on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there next to the ark of God.”

As I was reading this passage, I felt the Lord impress His Word upon my heart to write and share a word for this season.

May He minister to your heart and do what He wills.

When I first read this passage, I thought this was a rather severe judgement by God.

Uzzah had reached out to steady the ark because the oxen had stumbled. Surely, he was trying to prevent the ark from falling.

Was God’s judgement not a little extreme?

Was God being dramatic?

But God is not angered like us. Neither is He reactive like us.

God is not irrational.

He is holy.

He is just.

It is out of character for Him to be unjust.

So, what was this really about?

Second Samuel 6:7 tells us that God struck Uzzah because of his irreverence.

This was not merely about one impulsive movement of his hand. His action revealed something deeper.

It was a heart issue. God saw the condition of his heart, his inner stance towards the things of God and his motives.

Namely, the holy had become familiar.

The Ark Represented the Presence of a Holy God

The ark of God represented God’s dwelling and presence among the Israelites. It was there that God met with His people and spoke to them.

Exodus 25:22 says:

“I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony; I will speak with you from there about all that I command you regarding the Israelites.”

Inside the ark were the tablets of God’s covenant, the manna God had miraculously provided in the wilderness, and Aaron’s rod that had budded.

The ark was not merely a religious object.

It represented the covenant, authority, provision and presence of the living God.

God had therefore given specific instructions concerning how the ark was to be handled. It was to be carried using poles by those He had appointed. It was not to be touched.

Yet when David decided to bring the ark to Jerusalem, they placed it on a new cart.

This was the method the Philistines had previously used when they returned the ark to Israel.

The Philistines did not know God’s law.

But Israel did. God had given them clear instructions on everything concerning the ark of God, including how it needs to be transported and who is allowed to do this.

Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, guided the cart. When the oxen stumbled, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark.

He treated what was holy as though it were common.

He acted as though the ark needed his hand to protect it.

But God did not need Uzzah to preserve His holiness.

Uzzah failed to recognise the seriousness of touching what God had declared holy.

This is the danger before us:

We can become so familiar with God and the things of God that we no longer stand in awe of Him.

1. Proximity to Holy Things Does Not Produce Holy Fear

Before the ark came to Jerusalem, it had remained in the house of Abinadab for many years.

1 Samuel 7:1–2 says:

“So the men of Kiriath-jearim came for the ark of the Lord and took it to Abinadab’s house on the hill. They consecrated his son Eleazar to take care of it. Time went by until twenty years had passed since the ark had been taken to Kiriath-jearim. Then the whole house of Israel longed for the Lord.”

Pause with me for a moment.

The ark had been in Abinadab’s household for at least twenty years.

Uzzah had likely become very familiar with its presence. It was no longer something unusual to him. It had become part of the environment in which he lived.

But familiarity with the ark had not necessarily produced reverence for the God whose presence it represented.

We see something similar in the sons of Eli.

1 Samuel 2:12 says:

“Eli’s sons were wicked men; they did not respect the Lord.”

These men served in the house of God.

They were familiar with the sacrifices.

They were familiar with priestly duties.

They were familiar with the language and practices of worship.

Yet Scripture says that they had no regard for the Lord and treated His offering with contempt.

They were close to holy things, but their hearts were far from holy fear.

And this is a warning for us.

We can grow up in church.

We can know Scripture.

We can serve in ministry.

We can sing worship songs.

We can speak Christian language.

We can hear about God so often that His name no longer causes us to have reverence for our Holy God.

We can become familiar with the presence of God while losing our wonder at who He is.

Proximity to sacred things is not the same as reverence for the One who is sacred.

Familiarity is not intimacy.

Knowledge about God is not necessarily the fear of God.

The question is not merely:

“How long have I known God?”

The question is:

“Does my heart still tremble at His Word?”

2. Holy Fear Makes the Presence of God Precious

After Uzzah died, David became afraid of God.

1 Chronicles 13:12 says:

“David was afraid of God that day and asked, ‘How can I ever bring the ark of God to me?’”

David therefore did not take the ark into the City of David. Instead, he placed it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

The ark remained there for three months.

Then something remarkable happened.

“The Lord blessed his household and everything he had.”

The same ark that had been present when Uzzah was struck down now remained in Obed-Edom’s house, and the blessing of God upon his household became so evident that news of it reached King David.

2 Samuel 6:12 says:

“Now King David was told, ‘The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.’”

David then went and brought the ark into Jerusalem with rejoicing.

What does this show us?

The presence of God was not the problem.

God’s holiness was not something evil or hostile from which His people needed to flee.

His presence was holy, but it was also precious.

It was not to be handled presumptuously, but neither was it to be avoided.

God’s holiness brings us to our knees, but His presence is also the place of blessing, joy and fullness of life.

Presence Became More Precious Than Position

We see another beautiful picture of this in Psalm 84, a psalm of the sons of Korah.

Korah had rebelled against the authority God had given Moses and Aaron. He was not content with the place God had assigned him. He coveted the priesthood and wanted a position God had not given him.

Numbers 16:3 says:

“They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, ‘You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?’”

God judged that rebellion severely.

Yet Numbers 26:11 records this extraordinary sentence:

“The sons of Korah, however, did not die.”

God preserved a remnant from Korah’s family.

Generations later, the descendants of Korah served as gatekeepers and musicians in the house of God. They became worshippers who sang of their deep longing for His presence.

In Psalm 84:10, they declared:

“Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.”

And then:

“I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”

What a striking reversal.

Korah had grasped for a position of greater prominence in God’s house.

His descendants came to understand that merely standing at the threshold of God’s house was an unspeakable privilege.

Presence had become more precious than position.

They were not saying that serving as a gatekeeper was insignificant. They were saying that no position outside the presence of God could compare with even the humblest place near Him.

This is what holy fear produces.

It causes us to stop asking:

“How important can I become?”

Instead, we begin to ask:

“How close can I remain to God?”

The sons of Korah had tasted and seen that the Lord was good. They understood that He was glorious, sovereign and holy.

Nothing outside His presence could satisfy them.

They also sang:

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.”

Those who fear God rightly do not run away from Him. Their hearts become set on journeying towards Him.

Even when they pass through valleys, God makes those barren places into springs. They go from strength to strength until they appear before Him.

Dear friend, this is my prayer for you.

That your heart remains set on pilgrimage towards God.

That His presence becomes more precious to you than recognition, position, comfort or earthly reward.

The sons of Korah declare this in Psalm 84:11:

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favour and honour;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.”

God is not promising to give us everything we personally call good.

But He wants us to trust Him as our wise and loving Father. He wants us to know that He will not withhold anything that is truly good for those who walk with Him.

3. Holy Fear Is Restored Through Wholehearted Return

What do we do when we realise that we have lost our holy awe of God?

The answer is found in what happened while the ark remained in Kiriath-jearim.

After twenty years, the Israelites began to long for the Lord.

Samuel then said to them:

“If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, get rid of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths that are among you, dedicate yourselves to the Lord, and worship only Him.”

1 Samuel 7:3

Samuel gave them three clear instructions.

Get Rid of the Foreign Gods

Get rid of anything that has taken the place that belongs to God.

What are we leaning on more than we lean on Him?

Where are we looking for our security, identity, comfort or worth?

Is it money?

Approval?

Position?

A relationship?

Our work?

Our ministry?

Our reputation?

Our own ability to control what happens next?

An idol is not always something visibly evil.

It may be something good that has been given a place in our hearts that belongs only to God.

Holy fear is restored when God is returned to His rightful place.

Set Your Heart on the Lord

Samuel told them to dedicate themselves to the Lord.

This means to set their hearts firmly upon Him.

God wanted their whole hearts.

Where is your heart set?

What occupies your thoughts?

What drives your decisions?

What are you afraid of losing?

The fear of God grows when our hearts become undivided before Him.

Worship and Serve Him Alone

Worship is more than singing.

Worship is about allegiance.

It is revealed through what we obey, what we pursue and what we devote our lives to.

We can sing to God while still living for the approval of people.

We can speak of surrender while still protecting the areas we do not want Him to touch.

We can call Him Lord while continuing to insist on our own way.

To worship God alone is to say:

“You alone are worthy.”

“You alone have the final word.”

“You alone will receive my obedience.”

So, Have We Lost Our Holy Awe?

Friends, this devotional is not inviting us to live in terror that God is waiting to strike us down for every mistake.

It is a gentle invitation for us to see Him rightly again.

God is holy.

His presence is not something we can take for granted.

The fear of God is the holy awe that causes us to bow before Him.

It is the reverence that causes us to take His Word seriously.

It is the humility that causes us to repent when we have approached Him casually.

Perhaps we have become familiar with church but have lost our wonder at God.

Perhaps we have become so familiar with Scripture that we no longer tremble at His Word.

Perhaps we speak of His presence easily but no longer enter it with reverence.

Perhaps we have become comfortable with things in our lives that once grieved us.

Joel 2:12 says:

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

Dear brother, dear sister in Christ, will you return to the Lord with all that you have?

Prayer

O Father, forgive me for every way I have trivialised You, treated Your presence casually or reduced my relationship with You to a mundane chore.

Forgive me for forgetting who You are.

You are the King of kings and the Lord of lords. You are holy, sovereign and worthy of all honour. You hold my future, my life and every breath I take in Your hands.

Restore within me a holy awe of You.

Teach me to tremble at Your Word, to cherish Your presence and to obey You without hesitation.

Remove every ungodly high place I have raised in my heart. Tear down every idol, every hidden allegiance and everything I have loved, feared or trusted more than You.

Set my heart wholly upon You, Father.

May Your presence become more precious to me than position, comfort, success or reputation.

Draw me nearer to You. Purify my heart and make it tender towards the conviction of Your Spirit.

May I never become familiar with Your presence while losing my wonder at who You are.

Let my life proclaim that You alone are worthy.

In the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

Amen.