U
&In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths&

“Do It Right The First Time"

[ Back to Article Titles Page ]  [ Back to Home Page ]

"And when they came unto the threshingfloor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the Ark; for the oxen stumbled.  And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and He smote him, because he put his hand to the Ark: and there he died before God."  1 Chronicles 13:9-10.  Lately, I have noticed some of the T-shirts that people wear and the different statements written on these shirts.  Some are downright vulgar and some carry messages on them such as the one I have read which is the title of this little article.  Another such shirt that I have noticed lately is one that reads, "Just Do It".  I'm not sure, since I don't watch television, but I suspect that these statements come from advertisements.  The Lord gave me this little article just this morning and it is my most earnest prayer that He will use it as a very real and lasting blessing to the hearts of all who will read it.

Just yesterday, a very dear friend gave a most wonderful testimony which blessed my own heart more than I could possibly express.  I won't go into her testimony, only to say that though she did not realize it at the time, the Lord was so graciously using her toward giving me this little article and in other ways.  Now, this dear friend knows me well enough to know that the Lord uses those around me many times as inspirations in articles He gives me, so I feel confident that she won't mind me mentioning her in this one.  Now, I too have a testimony of sorts and a confession to make.  Before I read my Bible, I always go to the Lord in prayer, asking Him to speak to my heart through His Word.  Recently, I have been reading the Book of 1 Chronicles, and as always, I ask the Lord to speak to me through His Word.  I must confess that I have found the Books of Chronicles not only difficult to read, but also monotonous.  Though I would ask the Lord to speak to me, in my heart, I could not see how He could possibly speak to me in such a Book.  So and so begat so and so and he begat yet another so and so, most of which I cannot pronounce. 

You may be asking what all this has to do with the title of this little article.  Well, I pray that before this article is finished you will see that it indeed is the appropriate title.  As I said before, I suspect that the statements found on these T-shirts were from advertisements.  Well, if you will think about it, the two verses of Scripture I have mentioned, 1 Chronicles 13:9-10, were also advertisements.  You see, king David had decided to bring the Ark of God from Kirjath-jearim to the city of David.  Now that was, as my little girl would say, "cool", but I imagine that if they were to wear T-shirts back then, king David would have been wearing one that said, "Just Do It".  Not so with the Lord, or "not cool" as you will notice that "the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza...", found in the beginning of verse 10.  Brother Uzza wasn't trying to make the Lord angry, but he was trying to protect the Ark of God from falling.  No, it was king David who had made the mistake here in placing Uzza in the position of laying his hands on the Ark of God.  Friends, God took that Ark very seriously and instructions had been given as to who was to be allowed to touch the Ark.  It was the Levites who had been chosen to carry the Ark of God and king David finally realized his mistake as we read, "Then David said, None ought to carry the Ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the Ark of God, and to minister unto Him for ever."  1 Chronicles 15:2.  Again, I think that if they were to have worn T-shirts back then, brother David would have shed the shirt that said, "Just Do It" and would have hurriedly put on one that read, "Do It Right The First Time".  Now, though this little lesson that kink David learned proved to be fatal for Uzza, it most certainly proved to be quite an advertisement as to how very serious the Lord is concerning His children and the work that He has chosen them to do.  Now, before someone starts to thinking that what the Lord did wasn't very fair to Uzza, let me remind you that Uzza was a child of God and very apparently one who believed in Him with all his heart, or else he wouldn't have cared so much about the Ark falling.  With this in mind, where do you think brother Uzza is right now?  My friend, don't think, "Poor Uzza."  Poor Uzza is, as I write this little article, up there in heaven praising the Lord and just living it up.  No, God never does anything to destroy His children but to build them up and as you will notice as you read His wonderful Word, it is all for His glory.  Now, what came of this lesson brother David learned?  He, and every other child of God, (me included) experienced such a wonderful opportunity for growth and nearness to our awesome God.  From this wonderful experience, David was given by God a psalm of thanksgiving, which you can find in 1 Chronicles 16:7-36.  That is quite a psalm and I urge you to read it, for not only did the Lord give that psalm to David, but He gave it to all His children.  Just a few of the verses of this great psalm that I would like to share with you in this little article that really blesses my own heart.  1 Chronicles 16:8 says, "Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name, make known His deeds among the people."  My dear friend, you are the people, whether you are a child of God or not, and I share this great verse with you, because it is very important that you fully realize the power of this verse.  First of all, the verse says to , "Give thanks unto the Lord."  Whether you are a child of God or not, everything that you will see today and everything you will touch today and everything you experience with any of the other senses you have, and even those senses, are from God and the very least you could do would be to thank Him for His goodness and mercy.  Then we read, "Call upon His name."  This too, is for you, for if you are not His child, you should call upon Him to forgive you of your sins and save you and receive Jesus Christ into your heart and life.  And if you are His child, you should call upon Him frequently, confessing your sins and failures and asking His forgiveness.  Another of the verses in this wonderful psalm says, "Sing unto the Lord, all the earth, shew forth from day to day His salvation."  1 Chronicles 16:23.  All the earth, my dear friend, even the trees and the rocks and all the earth proclaim His glory, and how much more should we sing unto Him.  And it should not ever be a hit and miss thing for us to shew forth His salvation to those who don't know Him.  It should be from day to day.  "Declare His glory among the heathen: His marvelous works among all nations."  1 Chronicles 16:24.  Oh what I would not give for all the nations to read this little article, for though I may be the one typing it, He is the one who has given it to me and all His works are truly marvellous.  Oh, if you could just see through my fingers how my heart is about to burst as I consider His glory.

My dear, dear friend who gave her testimony yesterday was an advertisement of the wonderful glory of God and of the love He has toward His unworthy children.  And if that were not enough, (which it was), the Lord allowed not only her to grow from this experience, but at least me as well, and no telling how many others.  And then, if that were not enough, (which it surely was), He went on to use her to, to some degree, straighten out this little unworthy child, and if that were not enough, (which it truly was), He gave her the desires of her heart.  Now, there are those who doubt God when He promises things like that.  Some would say that if they desired a thousand or a million dollars, God surely would not give it to them.  Well, for those, I must declare His glory among the heathen.  Should a person try testing the Lord in such a way, they would surely be disappointed.  But if one of His children earnestly thought they desired such a thing, they will absolutely not be disappointed.  Guaranteed my friend, because God said it.  They may find that they really don't desire such a thing, but they may actually find that the desires of their heart are truly something other than that.  When our desires change, that's because God, in His infinite wisdom and grace has changed them, thereby, giving us the desires of our heart.  Who could ask for anything more? 

When I would pray and ask the Lord to speak to me through His Word, God heard my prayers, but He also heard my heart.  In my heart, I considered this part of His word meaningless and I could not see how He could speak to me in this particular section of His Word.  Friends, I was wrong.  I was dead wrong.  Just as dead wrong as Uzza, but God chose to take a different route in proclaiming His glory through this incident.  Thus, this little article.  Now, I'm sure that I am not the only one who has ever found these "so and so begat so and so" verses to be difficult to understand.  I may be the only one to have ever prayed such a prayer with a divided heart as I did, but I'm almost sure that there are others who found these verses skippable when reading the Bible.  Gods' Word says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding."  Proverbs 3:5.  I failed in this, because I did not understand how He could use these verses to speak to me.  I leaned unto mine own understanding in my heart where it really counts.  He spoke.  I heard.  And as His Word says, "In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths."  Proverbs 3:6.  I have written this little article proclaiming that His Word, all of it, is meaningful and should be taken very seriously.  Now, when so and so begat so and so, these people were not only real people, but they were God's children, (the ones who trusted in God).  You will notice that at times I referred to Uzza and king David as brother Uzza and brother David.  Now that I have trusted Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour and received Him as such into my heart and life, those children of God are now my ancestors.  That's pretty meaningful, wouldn't you say?  One of these days, and I don't believe it will be very long at all, I will have the privilege and opportunity to meet my new ancestors.  When I meet Caleb, I want to know his father Hur.  If you are a child of God, it is important that you realize that these people are important to you too.  But more important than all that, it is of utmost importance the contents of your heart.  You may be able to hide it from everyone else, but you will never ever hide it from the Lord.  He can and will give you the desires of your heart, but you must trust Him.  "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for ever and ever, And all the people said, Amen, and praised the Lord."  1 Chronicles 16:36.