“Who is able to stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God?” they cried out. “Where can we send the Ark from here?” 1 Samuel 6:20 NLT
One of the great values of a liberal arts education is that it teaches you to ask the right questions. If you ask how to get to Boston when you really want to go the San Francisco, you will not get directions to San Francisco. If you ask how to get rich instead of asking how you can live a rich and meaningful life, you will not get the right answer.
That is what happened here. By opening the covenant box they had acted as though Yahweh was their God, to treat however they liked, when all the time they were his people whom he had invited to live in the middle of an electric sub-station. So when they discovered that this God really was holy, they asked the wrong question. They asked how they could get him away from them. Wrong! They should have asked what they needed to do so that his holiness would not kill them, but instead, would bless them, as in fact it did to the people where they sent the box (1 Chron 13:14). Don’t ask to turn the electricity off. Rather, ask what we need to do so this wondrous power can transform our lives.
First, we need to throw every idol down. Whatever we have to have to make our lives complete is an idol. That doesn’t mean that we must all become monks and nuns. It means that we joyfully place all that we are and have into God’s hands. He does not want to deprive us of the blessings of life, but he does want to free us from them. They are no longer yours; they are his, and he can do with them as he will.
Second, stop using him as an idol. Yahweh does not exist for you; you exist for him. Put yourself into his hands to make of you what you were meant to be. The devil will tell you that God will make you miserable. It is a lie. When you find God transforming you into his likeness, his own image, even if the process be painful, you will be at peace. Ask the right question!
Called To Be Transformed 