We live in a world that worships information, and the gateway to information, which is curiosity. In our devotion today, we will find a group of people whose curiosity cost them their lives. A reverence for God’s holiness would have served them much better.

The first part of First Samuel is described as a time where the Word of the Lord was precious because “there was no open vision. (I Samuel 3:1)” Coming out of the time of the Judges, where “every man did that which was right in his own eyes,” (Judges 21:25), and because there was no prophet preaching God’s righteousness, God’s standard for holiness was not readily known. That did not, however, mean that men were not responsible for it.

The child Samuel grew into a great man of God because he chose to seek after God’s holiness by letting NONE of the Words of God fall to the ground. Others in Israel, however, took God’s favor for granted.

The Israelites had just run into battle, carrying the Ark of the Covenant like a “good luck charm,” fully expecting to win. They got slaughtered instead, and lost the Ark of the Covenant to the Philistines. Then the Philistines, thrilled with their spoil of war – the Ark of the Covenant – soon learned that God was not lacking power after all. They decided to return the Ark after plagues and destruction came upon them everywhere they moved It. So, they sent it back to Israel, along with a trespass offering made of gold.

One would think that after all that had transpired, the people of Israel would handle the Ark with great care and reverence. They certainly were glad to have it back! But they had much to learn about handling the Ark of the Covenant!

The Ark of the Covenant belonged in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle. It represented the presence of God – in the tabernacle – in the parting of the Jordan river – in the battlefield. The presence of God could not be taken for granted, however. God is a holy God, requiring reverence. You cannot go pretentiously and unprepared before God. Only the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies. No one was allowed to touch the Ark of the Covenant, much less look inside!

Yet in the joyous festivities of the ark being returned after seven months with the enemy, curiosity took over. Over fifty thousand people decided to look inside the Ark that day. Over fifty thousand people learned holiness the hard way, when the Lord killed them.

Perhaps we are tempted to say that the Israelites had a good excuse, having not had a preacher for so long, and having a poor excuse for a priest’s family – Hophni and Phinehas being what they were. Here is the hard truth: a holy God ceases to be a holy God when he makes exceptions for holiness. The law had been given. Warnings had been given. Certainly examples had been made in what had happened in battle and to the Philistines. The people should have know to treat the Ark with great reverence.

They walked away that day saying, “Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?” (I Samuel 6:20)

It would do us well to remember this lesson. Just because we live in a curious world, we do not have to push the limits. Just because we live in an increasingly unholy world, we still have an unchanging, holy God.