Romans 8
²⁸   And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

When we consider the above verse, it seems to us as though it might not be 100% true.  Of course we understand all Scripture to be true and unerring, but some times we just don't believe that the promise of Romans 8: 28 is for us.  We believe that our actions can negate the promise.  This is not exactly true.  What is true is that we can refuse to receive the promise by not loving God, and not being called according his purpose.  His purpose stated in vs. 29 is to be conformed to the likeness of Christ.  (to be conformed is an ongoing process).  So, while we might refuse to receive a promise of God, there is nothing we can do to negate any promise of God.  That’s the premise of this lesson.  However, before we go any further, let’s consider the greater context of Romans 8: 28, and what it says to the believer.

Romans 8
²²   For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
²³   And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
²⁴   For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
²⁵   But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
²⁶   Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
²⁷   And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
²⁸   And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
²⁹   For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
³⁰   Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
³¹   What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

First of all the text tells us that we groan (suffer).  There are a couple of reasons for this.  We suffer because we have a sense of how wonderful life in heaven will be.  Secondly, we suffer because we have all seen to one degree or another the ugliness that exists in this world.

Ecclesiastes 3
¹¹   He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

God has put the understanding of eternity into our hearts.  He has made everything beautiful in its time (and after the beauty comes aging and death).  And He has done it all in such a way that we cannot tell when He is working, or just allowing things to run their natural course.  So for those of us awaiting eternity, these factors seem to intensify whatever light and momentary inconveniences we experience here.

All is not lost however, since God has given us the indwelling Spirit to help us through it all (Rom 8: 26).  One way the Spirit accomplishes this is by making intercession.  Sometimes in my prayer, I may not know what to ask.  Here the Spirit steps in.  I might even ask for a thing that is not in my best interest.  Again the Spirit intercedes.  This benefit received in baptism along with the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of our souls (Acts 2: 38; Mk16: 16).  This indwelling Spirit is our assurance that God is on our side.  And “if God be for us, who can be against us?”

This gives us all great comfort when we’re faithfully following (being conformed to the image of) Christ.  What happens when I’m not so faithful?  What about when I’m disobedient?  What does God do for me then? 

Well, Romans 8: 28 is not the only scripture with a promise.  Hebrews 12: 6 says, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”  God chastens (disciplines) us, particularly when we’re unfaithful.  In context, we’re told that nobody enjoys discipline (duh!).  But if we make good use of God’s discipline we can be beneficiaries.  We’re told that God chastens us because we are His children.  I think that this is interesting, because this is the same reason given for the gift of the indwelling Spirit (Gal 4: 6).  The scripture is not clear as to how this chastening occurs, but I have some conviction on the matter.

Sin has natural consequences in addition to the eternal consequences of separation from the presence of God (hell).  For instance, if one uses drugs, they run the risk of addiction, disease, or just plain doing something stupid like driving under the influence.  If one is a fornicator, they run the risk of unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease and the like.  These consequences are possibilities or probabilities whether or not you’re a child of God.  I have the conviction that the child of God might be more vulnerable to some of these natural consequences than others are.  I believe that God uses these consequences as one means of chastening us.  Again, let me caution you that we cannot know when God is causing a thing to happen or simply allowing things to continue to there natural conclusion.  The children of God may be more vulnerable to the natural consequences of sin, simply because we’re not experienced sinners.  Whatever the consequences, if we endure them while retaining our faithfulness in God (and renewing our commitment to serve Him faithfully), we can be better Christians after the sin experience than we were previously.  This in no way is to say that our sin is the will of God.  God never has it in mind for us to sin.

We all make mistakes.  We all sin.  Sin always has consequences. We all need to overcome.  All of this makes us groan.  We’ve been kind of talking thus far about what God does at his end.  What can we do at our end to minimize all of this grief?  Let’s examine together a mistake that cost a man his life, and see what we can learn.

2 Samuel 6
¹   Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.
²   And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims.
³   And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart.
⁴   And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark.
⁵   And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.
⁶   And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it.
⁷   And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.
⁸   And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perezuzzah to this day.
⁹   And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?
¹⁰   So David would not remove the ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gittite.
¹¹   And the ark of the LORD continued in the house of Obededom the Gittite three months: and the LORD blessed Obededom, and all his household.
¹²   And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obededom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obededom into the city of David with gladness.
¹³   And it was so, that when they that bare the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings.
¹⁴   And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.

David made a mistake, and it cost Uzzah his life.  I’ll explain the mistake later, because it might not spring to the surface at first.  But let’s look at the circumstances that caused David and Uzzah to be vulnerable to this accident.

Firstly, David was “on a roll” you might say.  He had been anointed king of Israel for some time.  But during the early part of his reign, King Saul was also reigning.  King Saul is now dead, and the throne is securely in David’s hands.  David has also just won a great victory over the Philistines.  God engineered the victory, and the strategy was directly communicated to David (2 Sam 5).  David must be pretty sure of himself and His relationship with God at this time. 

It’s these times of great certainty in our relationship with God that leave us vulnerable to making mistakes, and falling into sin. 

1 Corinthians 10
¹¹   Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
¹²   Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
¹³   There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Many of our Old Testament lessons were written to teach us the vulnerability we have at the times that we think that we are the strongest.  God always provides a way to escape temptation, but somehow when we get to thinking that we are “something” we seem to stop looking for the exits.  The way to beat temptation is to escape, or flee from it, not face it head on.  And this brings us to the second point.

We’re vulnerable to mistakes and sin when we put ourselves in a bad place.  In my work for the local Cable TV Company, one of the various titles that I held in my 23 years there was groundsman.  We called them grunts.  They worked on the ground under the linemen on the poles.  From time to time a grunt would have to send a tool to the lineman on the pole.  It might simply be tossed if the tool was small, if it was larger it was tied to a hand line and hoisted up.  It didn’t take long for a groundsman to learn that the wrong place to stand was directly under a lineman.  Linemen from time to time drop tools.  If you’re right under them, you’re likely to be injured.  This was Uzzah’s problem.  He was standing in a bad place.  If he had been somewhere else he wouldn’t have reached up and touch the Ark. 

How many sins are committed as a result of Christians putting themselves in a bad place.  1 Corinthians 15: 33 states, “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.”  We put ourselves in a bad place when we choose the wrong friends.  We put ourselves in a bad place when we choose the wrong mates.  We lie down with dogs over and over again, and can’t figure out why we keep getting up with fleas.  We go to parties where everybody is drinking or doing drugs, and then we wonder how we were overcome by the temptation to get drunk or to get high.  It all boils down to Christians being in places that Christians shouldn’t be, and being in those wrong places for the wrong reasons.  I understand that there are times when we have little choice of where we are.  But this is not usually the case.  Uzzah chose to walk alongside the ark, and it is usually us that choose to be in these wrong places, at the wrong time, with the wrong people, for the wrong reasons.

Finally, we’re vulnerable to mistakes when we only consult God on the big things.  David consulted twice with God when he was battling the Philistines in 2 Samuel 5.  However, when it came to moving the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, it was something that was so obviously God’s will, that he never consulted as to the particulars of how he was to accomplish it.  This was a mistake, which David admits (we’ll have more on that later).  How we do a thing is just as important to God as the doing of it.   Consider the rules of worship (both Old Testament and New Testament). Consider how offended that God was in Old Testament times that the people began to offer sacrifices in the high places.  Some of these offerings were offered to pagan gods, but some were intended to honor Jehovah.  God had commanded that sacrifices be made in the Temple, or before that in the Tabernacle.  Any other offering was not acceptable.  I’m sure that some said that in Abraham’s day, he offered sacrifice anywhere he wanted.  But under Mosaic Law it was not commanded in any other way than at the Tabernacle.  It’s this very principle that causes us to be resistant to the introduction of instrumental music in Worship service today.  The New Testament commands singing.  Instrumental music is not commanded.  Sure, it was OK in David’s day, but it is not commanded so now.   

God had commanded in the Law of Moses that the Ark be borne upon the shoulders of the Levites, not on a “new cart.”  If David had enquired of God, he would have known this.  If the Ark was not on the cart, it would not have begun to topple.  Uzzah would not have reached up and been killed.

The lesson thus far has shown that much of our suffering is a result of our making ourselves vulnerable by being proud, being in a bad place, or not consulting God.  But what can be done once a mistake has been made?  How do we recover?

The first thing that most of do is just what David did.  We get angry.  Usually we get angry with God.  It isn’t His fault.  It didn’t take David long to take personal accountability.

1 Chronicles 15
¹¹   And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab,
¹²   And said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it.
¹³   For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.
¹⁴   So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel.
¹⁵   And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD.
¹⁶   And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy.

David recognized that an answer was not only available by asking God through prayer.  The answer in this case was in scripture.  It usually is found in scriptue if we spend enough time in scripture.  It wasn’t God’s fault that David was suffering.  David had brought this upon himself and Uzzah by not consulting God’s word first.

Once we take accountability, then we need to seek forgiveness.  Note in our text in 2 Samuel that after they had taken 6 paces they offered sacrifices.  I believe it was an offering for sin.  Certainly it was a humbling of David and the others before God.

1 Peter 5
⁶   Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
⁷   Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Casting my cares on God, including my sins, requires that I humble myself.  Humbling myself requires that I admit that many of my problems are created by me, and I need God’s grace and help to escape.  It’s too bad that we wait until we’ve already fallen before we’ll submit to God.  We already talked about what happens when we think that we’re standing.  If we’d just learn to humble ourselves then, we might well never fall, because God is able to make us stand (cf. Rom 14: 4).

After I’ve sought forgiveness from God, the next thing is to forgive myself.

Luke 9
⁶²   And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

Looking back means not to long for my past life.  But looking back means not letting those things that are behind me influence the work ahead of me.  Paul put it this way:

Philippians 3
¹³   Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
¹⁴   I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Leave your past sins with God and press on toward the goal.

Now let’s consider the lessons learned.  It was not necessarily God’s will that Uzzah perish.  He was simply a casualty of sin.

It certainly was not God’s will that David sin.  It is never God’s will that anybody sin.  I believe that afterward David was probably a better and wiser king.  But that was in spite of his sin, and not because of his sin.

In my own life, I gave my life to Christ in baptism when I was about 12 years old.  When I was about 19 years old, I took my life back.  For somewhere between 10 and 15 years I did whatever I wanted to do.  And at the end of it all I was worse off than at the beginning.  I knew that I needed to give my life back to God.  And somehow I now truly knew how that lost son in Luke 15 felt when he said to his father, “I’m not worthy to be a son, just make me one of your servants.”  I believe that I’m a better Christian and a better preacher as a result.  But that’s in spite of my rebelliousness, and not because of it.  God was able to make it all work together for good in spite of my rebelliousness.  I sometimes wonder what He might have accomplished with my life if I had co-operated with Him for that additional 10 to 15 years.  Oh well, that’s all behind me now.

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