The Presence of God

1 Chron 15:11-14 (NIV)
11 Then David summoned Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab the Levites. 12 He said to them, "You are the heads of the Levitical families; you and your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. 13 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." 14 So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel.

These verses offer some great insight into an area that I'm sure we are all hungry for. The presence of God. If ever there was a man who valued the presence of God, it was David. In this passage David enlightens us to why we sometimes fail in our attempt to have God's presence truly enter our midst. Right before this scene where David is correcting the Levites, we see their failed attempt to move the ark of the Lord which represents the presence of God. Their first attempt ended with the death of a man with good intentions and fear striking the hearts of everyone else.

Now we see David's second attempt. This time he has some great lessons under his belt and is sure to do it right. What are those lessons?

One lesson was that the first time they consulted each other but did not consult God about "how to do it in the prescribed way." (v. 13) Although it was God's will for them to move His presence, they did not seek God about how to do that. Good intentions without diligence and the fear of the Lord leads to disaster.

Verse 12 teaches us another important lesson. We learn that they focused on preparing the place while neglecting to prepare themselves. The place was ready for the presence of God but the people had not yet consecrated themselves. This is not to say that preparing the place was wrong, but to stress that God cares about both.

If we truly want the Lord to bless us with his manifest presence we need to ask these questions:
1. Is our good intention married to the fear of the Lord?
2. Have we truly consecrated ourselves to Him?
3. Have we prepared the place for Him?