I could never understand why God struck a man dead for trying to keep the sacred ark from falling off an ox cart (II Samuel 6: 1-7). In Streams in the Desert, however, I found the following Old Signpost posted by A.B. Simpson.
A life was lost in Israel because a pair of human hands was laid unbidden upon the ark of God. They were placed upon it with the best intent, to steady it when trembling and shaking as the oxen drew it along the rough way; but they touched God’s work presumptuously, and they fell paralyzed and lifeless.
Much of the life of faith consists in letting things alone.
If we wholly trust an interest to God, we must keep our hands off it; and He will guard it for us better than we can help Him. “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes (Psalm 37:7). Things may seem to be going all wrong, but He knows as well as we; and He will arise in the right moment if we are really trusting Him so fully as to let Him work in His own way and time. There is nothing so masterly as inactivity in some things, and there is nothing so hurtful as restless working, for God has undertaken to work His sovereign will. A.B. Simpson (1843-1919)
It is such a comfort to drop the tangles of life into God’s hands and leave them there.
A.B. Simpson—Streams in the Desert, July 6
KJV Scripture changed to NIV.
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