Throughout the Old Testament arks were used as places of safety.  God told Noah to build an ark to keep his family safe and ensure the survival of the earth, Moses was placed in an ark on the river, and the Ark of the Covenant was made by the Israelites under the direction of God, to keep that tablets of the law, a pot of manna and Aaron’s rod, to remind the Israelites of their time in the wilderness.

God’s directions for fashioning the Ark of the Covenant can be read in Exodus 25 vs 10 – 22.  The lid of the Ark was the mercy seat, where the presence of God dwelt between the two golden cherubim, where His glory was made manifest, and where the high priest would sprinkle the blood when he entered the Holy of Holies on the day of Atonement.  God had ordered that no sacred objects should be touched, so the Ark was made so that it could be carried on poles and in Numbers 4 we read that this task fell to the Koathites, a clan of the Levites who were specially appointed by God.  The Ark was carried in procession on ceremonial occasions and later it became the custom for it to be carried into battle.

In 1 Samuel 4 we read that the Israelites were at war with the Philistines, and had been defeated in battle, so they decided to go and fetch the Ark so that when it came among them it might save them from the hand of the enemy, mistakenly using the Ark as a talisman or lucky charm to give victory.  Hophni and Phineas went to Shiloh for the Ark and this was the Israelites second mistake, for in doing so they broke God’s law.  They entered into the sacred part of the tabernacle for the Ark , into the place where only the high priest was supposed to go once a year, and took the Ark to the battleground.  God’s people had begun to think that the wooden and gold box was the source of the power, and they were coming close to idol worship.  The Ark had become a national symbol rather like our crown jewels, but the crown jewels do not guarantee the presence of the queen, and in the same way the Ark did not guarantee the presence and glory of God.  The Israelites were walking out of God’ will, trying to live on past blessings and past victories that God had given them, and they thought He would give the victory again, even though they were walking far from Him.

The Ark was captured, Hophni and Phineas were killed, and when Eli heard the news he fell from his seat and broke his neck.  Phineas’ wife who was due to give birth went into labour, but died after having the child, whom she named Ichabod – “the glory of God has departed this place”.  It’s a sad fact that today the glory of God has departed many of our churches and chapels, to be replaced by coffee mornings, lunch clubs and toddler groups – all very commendable, but please, not at the expense of the glory.  Also we can become taken up with office bearing and committee meetings, which again are very necessary but often there is an excess of the appointing and too little of the anointing in evidence.  Further on in the history of the Ark, when Solomon took it into the temple in Jerusalem, the cloud of glory filled the temple to such an extent that the priests could not stand to minister.  What an experience that must have been, and how wonderful it would be if we could have even a glimpse of that today.

As we continue to read we see that the Philistines decided to get rid of the Ark as it brought them destruction, disease and devastation, so they set the Ark on a cart made of wood and took it back to the Israelites where it remained in the house of Abinadab for twenty years.  David could see the blessings that were resting on Abinadab and so he purposed himself to bring the Ark back to Jerusalem so that the blessing would rest on the nation.  He desired the presence, the anointing and the glory of God and that same purpose should be ours.  We should crave and treasure the presence, the anointing and the glory of God in our lives and in our assemblies. 
However, in his eagerness in going after the glory of God, David made one big mistake, for rather than regarding God’s law he imitated the Philistines and set the ark on a cart with serious consequences.  Although David and Uzzah meant well, it was a serious thing to be careless with the Ark, and in the same way we cannot afford to be careless with the anointing of God, which is something to be cherished, sought after and desired.  Just as the Israelites couldn’t bring in the Ark on a new cart, we cannot bring in the anointing and glory of God on a new cart.  We may have lots of fancy ideas about what we want to do, and how we want God to move, how we can tempt people into our churches, but we can’t afford to be careless with the anointing and glory of God.  We need to handle it with care; we can’t afford to imitate the Philistines, and we cannot afford to touch the glory even if we don’t understand it – it’s tantamount to touching the Ark.

As we read further on we find that David was afraid to continue to move the Ark and so left it at the house of Obed Edom for three months, during which time God’s blessings were in evidence again.  David once again vowed to bring back the Ark, but this time he did it properly.   David had the privilege of experiencing God’s blessing for himself, rather than being a spectator when Abinadab and Obed Edom were being blessed.  He had the privilege of seeing the Ark, the representation of God’s glory being returned to it’s rightful place, and David was so pleased he began to dance for joy.  He was so excited at what God was doing that he was beside himself with joy.  Children jump up and down for joy when they are excited with no inhibitions and we, as children of God, should be beside ourselves with joy when we experience the glory of God, the manifest presence of God, for ourselves.  However, Michal had a critical spirit and thought David was foolish – she didn’t see David’s dancing heart, she only had contempt.  Many people miss out on the glory and anointing of God because they don’t have dancing hearts, all they see is people making a show of themselves.  David didn’t dance to show off, or declare how spiritual he was, contrary to Michal’s belief,  he danced because he simply just couldn’t help it.  Sometimes we do appear foolish to onlookers but God sees our hearts and knows our sincerity, while some spectators don’t.  God doesn’t want us to be spectators, but partakers of his divine inheritance. He wants us to take pleasure in everything that he does, he wants us to take pleasure in praising Him, and He wants us to experience His glory and His anointing. 

That’s why the meetings at Fiskerton are called Glory Meetings, because the people who meet here to praise the Lord all recognise the glory and anointing of God as something to be cherished, treasured and sought after.  Let’s purpose ourselves as David did to go after the glory and seek the manifest presence of God at work in our lives and fellowships, praise the Lord!