Beware of Expediency

# 81 – Today's Du-votional comes from 1Sa 6:13-15, “Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. 14 Then the cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and stood there; a large stone was there. So they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD. 15 The Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the chest that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone. Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices the same day to the LORD. (1 Sam 6:13-15) The miracles continue. Just imagine being a worker in the field harvesting wheat and lo and behold a driverless cart comes tooling down the road carrying the precious ark of the covenant. The glory of God had departed seven months ago, but now it had returned! God's glory, the physical evidence of His presence, returns at His will. We cannot manufacture God's glory, we cannot manufacture revival. Ro 9:15 says, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion." We pray for these things, but ultimately they are in His hands. As the reapers likely follow the cart, it veers off the road and turns into Joshua's field and pulls up by a rock suitable for an altar...and stops. It seems a sacrifice to God is in order here, and so they use the wood from the cart and the flesh of the two cows. It was the expedient thing to do. In hindsight, I think the people should've exhibited some patience and waited for the Levites. There were strict rules regarding the handling of the ark of God and they needed to be followed. If they had been followed, the disaster that was about to come upon the Beth-shemites could've been avoided. Learn from this. Sometimes obeying God's Word is a bother, and we opt for what seems to be more practical to us, but in the end even well-meaning expediency at the price of obedience invites disaster.