One of the biblical passages where the Lord God seems to act with the greatest severity is when he smote Uzzah, who dared to took hold of the ark of the Lord because the oxen were shaking it. (2 Samuel 6 : 6-7).
God, in His sovereignty, will often allow His work, His own work, to seem severely compromised, in danger of extinction; but never, never, will it be up to us to take over, to assume the task of saving it. But, as from the very beginning, we should constantly rely on Him, never going beyond His instructions.
Let us remember that shortly before this incident, King Saul, in his time, took it upon himself to offer a sacrifice to God, a sacrifice that only the prophet Samuel was authorized to offer. He committed the irreparable, so great was his fear of defeat upon seeing the soldiers retreat. (1 Samuel 13:1-14)
How many of us wouldn't have done everything in our power to prevent Job's apparent downfall? Everything had started so well; the manifestation of God's work had always been evident in his life. Then, suddenly, this righteous man seemed to be dying in an inevitable and terrifying way. How many of us wouldn't have interpreted this as the work of the devil, to be thwarted by “any means necessary”? And yet, it was indeed God's will that he go through all those trials.
What then of Christ Himself? He had majestically fulfilled the Father's will thus far. How God had been glorified through the work of His only Son! And then, suddenly, all the hope of Israel announces to His disciples that the time has come for Him to depart, when there still seems to be so much to do. Then, as many of us would have done, “Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.” But let us note carefully the Lord’s response to Peter: “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” (Matthew 16:21-23).
Let us remember, finally, that from the very beginning, Abraham, the father of the faith God gave us, faced such a trial. His wife was barren, and yet God had promised to raise up for him through her, descendants, a numerous people. And God fulfilled His Word! Only, a few years later, the same God seemed to contradict Himself by asking Abraham to give Him the same son; how perplexed Abraham must have been. He might well have wondered if God was mocking him, but no! While God had never before performed a resurrection as He would centuries later with the prophet Elisha, Abraham conceived of the resurrection in his heart, for it was the only way in which the Lord's seemingly contradictory "two" words would all be fulfilled, or rather, would become one single word. (Hebrew 11: 17-19).
My dear brother, my dear sister, it will often happen, as in each of the previous cases, that the Lord will lead us through a form of death and resurrection. Therefore, in such circumstances, let us beware of trying at all costs to preserve ourselves from death. For without death, there is no resurrection; and the glory of the first life is one thing, and that of life after the resurrection is another. As was the case in each of the examples illustrated above.
It may be that God led you to initiate a revival movement, and then the time came when it seemed obvious that if you didn't legalize it as a "Church," then God's work would die. So, my dear brother, if God hasn't instructed you in this way, then let His work "die"; it will "rise again." However, if, like Uzzah or King Saul, you use your own will, your carnal will, to "save" it at all costs, you yourself could die spiritually and even physically, and with you, many of those who follow you! For the love of the Lord, for the sake of your own life and the lives of those who follow you, be extremely careful if you ever find yourself in a similar situation. Yes, my dear brother, my dear sister, never, never, should we stray even slightly from God's will, supposedly to save His work.
As we finish writing this article, the plight of Christian "artists" weighs heavily on our heart. How many of our brothers and sisters, at the beginning of their ministry, lifted us to heaven through praise and worship, but who today appear to us only as "artists" playing music that is pleasant to the ear but no longer reaches our souls. What happened? What happened? What happened? My brother, my sister, if you have to definitively cease to be produced (musically speaking), so be it! But God will continue to bless His people through your old worship and praise music. Besides, why should leading God's people in praise and worship be a profession, a commercial activity (paid for by the consumer)? Why shouldn't it be like preaching the Gospel, freely accessible online and through various media?
Lord God Most Holy, You who warn us in the letter to the Church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7), grant us to return to our first love, to remember where we have fallen from, to repent, and to resume our first works!
In Christ Jesus!
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