We can read in 1 Chronicles 15 about a grave mistake that was made in the handling of the ark. The ark was only to be handled by the Levites and was never to be touched by anyone, but carried on poles through the rings on the ark. However, in 1 Chronicles 15, the ark was being transported by ox cart. The neglect of God’s command cost Uzza, one of the cart drivers, his life, when touched the ark, even though he meant well. We can also read, in Leviticus 10:1-2, that Nadab and Abihu died because they “offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them.”

One clear teaching from these passages is spelled out for us in 1 Chronicles 15:13, when King David identified the reason that Uzza died. David understood that Uzza died because they “did not consult [God] about the proper order.” As Christians, especially those of us who minister before the Lord, we should heed the warning in these passages. In verses 8-11 of Leviticus 10 (especially verse 10), God made it clear that we are to “distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean…”

We are not the arbiters of what is and is not acceptable to the Lord, “[f]or God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few” (Ecclesiastes 5:2). I would never presume to tell my wife what she does or does not like. Instead, I learn that from her. How much more with the Lord should we “draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil” (Ecclesiastes 5:1).