This afternoon my brother and I went into the field with two golf clubs and a golf ball. We spent a long while hitting the ball long distances at each other, aiming for accuracy. When we got tired, we stepped into the shade of two different trees and pretended that the shade was the green. Golf is pretty fun.

After we were done and on our way home, I took my club and threw it into the air to see how high I could make it go. When it hit the ground, the head broke off. Oops. At least we got the golf clubs for free a long time ago when some stranger didn't want them anymore.

Devotion notes and thoughts:

2 Samuel 6

the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark.

This is how the ark is described as David brings it back from Baalah. It shows the significance of the ark, and how it is more than merely a nice looking container. However, the next verse says,

They set the ark of God on a new cart

David seems to understand the significance of the ark, since he has 30,000 chosen men assist in moving it, but he fails to carry out the requirement that the ark be carried on the shoulders of Levites. This is the first mistake made. Then,

When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The LORD's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.

Though the ark should never have been transported on an oxen pulled cart to begin with, Uzzah is still guilty of his own actions. Even though his action seems to carry good intentions, it shows that he does not have the proper respect for the ark of God. If the object being transported was an extremely fragile and priceless piece of artwork that would be ruined by the touch, or an infinitely hot lump of metal, Uzzah would most likely have refrained from touching it, yet he reaches out and takes hold of the ark without any hesitation.

A little further into the chapter,

David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf.

David has learned from the mistakes, and orders that the ark be carried rather than put on a cart.

Hebrews 12

godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected.

The single meal was not inherently sinful, but was simply what Esau desired most and believed he needed most at that time. His lack of foresight caused him to give up his long term inheritance for something completely insignificant. This is relevant to us, because people all around us are giving up their eternal inheritance by blinding themselves with the short term things that seem so important on earth. Hebrews calls us to not be like Esau, but to instead to look past the things that seem so necessary for the things that are eternal.

Compared to eternity, anything earthly is as insignificant as Esau's bowl of soup. It could be billions of dollars, fame as a professional athlete, a position of great power, or anything else. It doesn't matter.

I remember a long while back, when Mr. Bob Jennings gave a sermon at DCCC on this subject. He compared pursuit of earthly things to dung beetles spending their lives rolling dung into balls. To us looking down at them from a higher perspective, it seems so foolish. To the dung beetles, they're probably pretty proud of their massive balls of dung.