And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from here?”
1 Samuel 6:20 (NIV)

I grew up in a church that on Sunday practiced high-church pageantry. There were both adult and children’s choirs in full robes. There was a pipe organ and the minister was in full regalia. Worship was formal.

I can still remember being a squirrelly kid under the stern gaze of the organist and choir director as I sat in my robe in the choir loft. As a child, it was easy to miss the point of all the pomp. It was easy to make light of all the religious regalia and holy hoopla.

One of the things that I’ve observed along my spiritual journey is that familiarity with God is not the same as reverence for God.

In today’s chapter, the Philistines decide that seven months of holding on to the Ark of the Covenant and suffering from plague was enough. I can’t forget that seven throughout the Great Story represents “completeness.” The Israelites tried to use the Ark like a good luck charm that would bring them victory. The Philistines tried to hold on to the Ark as if it were a trophy of war. God refuses to be manipulated by either human motivation. Having completed this divine object lesson, the Ark is returned to Israel by the Philistines along with a guilt offering.

The Philistines are very careful how they return the Ark. They put it on a brand new cart (a sign of reverence). They use two cows that have never been yoked and had recently calved. This was a test. The cows should instinctively want to stay near where their calves were — instead the cows pull the Ark directly back to Israel.

Fascinating that a pair of cows obey divine purposes and the pagan Philistines learn that God is not to be trifled with.

The Ark’s first stop is a border town called Beth Shemesh. The people are overjoyed to see the Ark, but like kids in the choir loft they don’t take God’s presence seriously. They see this as their opportunity to take peek inside the Ark and see its contents for themselves. They pay for it with their lives.

The men of Beth Shemesh were not Philistines. They were covenant people. And yet they handled what they knew to be the most holy thing of their faith tradition carelessly.

I’ve observed that one of the strangest dangers along my spiritual journey is that the longer I walk around sacred things the easier it becomes to lose my sense of wonder. What is holy becomes ho-hum. And, when that happens…

I stop trembling.
I stop listening.
I stop approaching God with awe.

And eventually, God becomes furniture.

Today’s chapter whispers: “Don’t lose the weight of glory.”

The cows in this story may actually shame the humans a bit. They instinctively move toward the purposes of God while people nearby oscillate between superstition and irreverence. There’s almost a dark humor in it — the livestock are spiritually more responsive than the human beings.

And yet beneath the warning is grace.

Because the ark comes back.

God returns to His people despite their failures. Despite their superstition. Despite their irreverence. Despite their fear. And that is the heartbeat beneath the thunder.

Despite their repeated disobedience the holy God still desires to dwell among His people.

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