OBED-EDOM was a man more in God's secret at this moment and more peculiarly blessed of God than David and all his people; and he was a private person of a far-off town: " Obed-Edom the Gitite, or Gathite." There, individual piety found a place for the ark of God, when the great outward profession dropped off from it in demoralization and discouragement; and it was God owning the personal piety of this man and his house by the peculiar richness of the blessing bestowed, that induced David to make a second and a successful attempt at having the ark brought up to Zion for the blessing of his throne and of all Israel. There is mighty power in personal piety owned and stamped by fresh blessing to affect others. There could not have been anything smaller or weaker than this man's testimony-but GOD was there! The grand procession of all Israel with the royal David at its head, having as its object the bringing up of God's ark from its place of isolation, to its public association with the throne of. David established in grace in Zion, had suddenly been stopped by a divine breach upon irreverence, and the king, displeased, afraid of God and discouraged, ceases from his jubilant enterprise; the ark is left: and the individual piety of the obscure Obed-Edom gives it a home in his house.
I believe that Church history would furnish many examples like this of public movements for securing great general blessing having been arrested in such a way that they were desisted from, and had to be taken up by individuals, and were only resumed and carried out after the blessing that attended upon them in the hands of individuals had been practically attested. " The oxen stumbled." Some irreverent hand had been put forth to steady the ark, and judgment had ensued, and it has been only after lessons of dependence and obedience have been taught, and blessings given to the individual who had faith to possess himself of the ark, that a longing is created to have the mighty boon of the Lord's presence for all.
Every fresh manifestation of grace in the Church has been enjoyed privately by individuals before it emerged into gracious publicity. The whole of Israel, the captains of thousand, and captains of hundreds, and every leader, and even the freshly crowned king himself, are discouraged, demoralized, and cease from the good work; and the ark of God would have been left exposed to more irreverent treatment had not the piety of Obed-Edom taken it in. And yet, though God, as in David's case, gave signal victories when there was the spirit of dependence and obedience, yet the token of God's presence, the symbol of God's power and glory, in the midst of his people, as well as the bond of the covenant, " the ark of the covenant," was still absent from its prepared place on Mount Zion.
This is, I believe, an Obed-Edom time when the ark rests with the individual who has piety and spiritual desire to crave and shelter the longed-for, yet deserted thing. David had a true desire to have it; so had many of the thousands of Israel; yet he and they left it in the house of Obed-Edom, and then dispersed to their homes in a state of unhappy demoralization. It reminds one of this word: “Every man went unto his own home. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives." Jesus, the true ark, is now in the garden across the Kedron in the solitary place: there will the unsleeping heart find Him; and this is its peculiar privilege for the hour-to get individual blessing while yet the reception of open public blessing, power, and glory, tarries and is not enjoyed.
Are there any who, like the people in the reign of Saul, are lamenting after the Lord, and who have not inquired at the ark in the days of Saul. Now is your opportunity to secure the personal enjoyment of God's presence in the Spirit, giving fullness of blessing and joy. The way to promote the blessing of others is to be in the full enjoyment of blessing ourselves individually. There is nothing so impressive, commanding, and contagious, as living in the conscious enjoyment of the Lord's presence and walking in the Spirit. " And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom, and all his household. And it was told king' David, saying, The Lord path blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that pertaineth unto him because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David with gladness."
Before the coronation of David by all Israel, there were those who had separated themselves to him to “the hold in the wilderness," when the nation was still with Saul. It must have been peculiarly precious to David to have this practical token of their appreciation of him as God's king when he was nobody, and had nothing to give them but a share in his rejection, privation, and suffering. How pleasant to hear such say: " Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse; peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers: for thy God helpeth thee." (1 Chron. 12)
And it must be peculiarly precious to " our Lord Jesus " in this the time of his rejection, to welcome to the outside place where He is, those who are drawn to Him by the secret attractiveness of His personal worth and glory; and who count His presence and blessing to be above all things to their souls. (Matt. 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20).)
Let us personally value His presence with us by His Spirit, as the godly Gitite showed his value for the ark of God, and, having taken it in, became the most openly blessed man in Israel, so that his blessing through his possession of the ark led to its being put within its curtains on the hill of Zion for the blessing of the king and all Israel. Individual enjoyment of Christ by the believer is the true secret of personal blessing and Christian influence.