The depths of His word and will.. The principle established in 1 Samuel 16:7 was to me fundamental - that God does not look at the outward but at the heart. Perhaps I extrapolated a little too much out of context when I believe that God considers also our intentions, not just the outcome.

Came across a 2 Samuel 6 where David was bringing back the ark of God. During the journey, the ox pulling the cart (carrying the ark) stumbled, and Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark, but was struck dead by God! Did Uzzah not have good intentions?

I struggled with this a couple of days, then I was pointed to refer to bible commentaries - but of course! How come I didn't think of that? The Matthew Henry commentary made it quite clear:

1. They carried the ark in a cart or carriage, whereas the priests should have carried it upon their shoulders (e.g. Numbers 7:9). The ark was not a heavy burden!
2. Only priests may touch the ark. Even for the Kohathites (bearers of the ark), the law was clear that they were to carry the ark by the staves and "must not touch any holy thing, lest they die" (Numbers 4:15).
3. God would hereby strike an awe upon Israel that the ark was no less venerable for its having been so long in mean circumstances; that Israel will learn always to treat holy things with reverence and holy fear.
4. God teaches us that a good intention will not justify a bad action

Of course, this is perfectly consistent with God's character of being holy! Two lessons learnt: (i) I do need to read cross references to learn the context (ii) All those instructional pages in the OT that I usually skim through do mean something - 2 Tim 3:16-17.

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Studied James 4 last Friday at cell group, and I shared that my takeaway was about watching my tongue. To my own surprise, the verse I acted on this week was 4:8: "Draw close to God and He will draw near to you..."

I usually read the bible while eating breakfast. But yesterday I missed this routine as I met new team mates also staying in this hotel, and it was rude to sit in a different table. So today I got up earlier at 630am to draw near to God before the daily rush, and spent a good time reading the bible and praying for everyone in my cell group.

And it was a peaceful, sweet time :)