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Does the End Justify the Means?

Ask King David does the end justify the means? I believe that across the river of time he would shout emphatically, "NO!" Look at II Samuel 6. Here is the story of David's plan to bring back God's symbol,the Ark of the Covenant. David went with
30,000 men to retrieve the Ark of the Covenant from Gibeah. David had just come from a victory over the Philistines where God showed His mighty power. Maybe David was feeling too certain of himself.

One thing I've seen over and over to watch is, after a great victory one must be prayerful and hide under the protection of God's wings. It seems to be the place where one is the most vulnerable to Satanic attacks or moral failings

David had the Ark of the Covenant put on a new cart to transport it back to Jerusalem. Can anyone tell me why there was a place among God's people called Baale of Judah? I think they had gotten a little too close to the idol worship to have named an Israeli town Baale. A sign of callousness and carelessness. It makes this recounting of the move of God even more important.

Priest Abinadab's sons Ahio and Uzzah accompanied the ark. In fact it states that they drave the cart. My there was a grand parade. David leading the band. They were blowing horns, flutes. What a grand parade. Royalty and military might plus their religious icon. I'm sure it was quite the sight.

They got to the threshing floor of Nachon, on the journey, perhaps to rest. Up to this point everything looked great. The ark was being brought back with great fanfare to Jerusalem. It had a proper escort. It had two priest sons taking care of it. All looked well from a certain vantage point. What's not to like from the human perspective?

What's not right is that they are not doing this as God told them to do it. The Ark of God was to be born on priests' shoulders with the Staves. It was to be carried by sanctified individuals - Not by dumb beasts, incapable of thinking creatures, not those animals brought up in a stable, devoid of the possibility of receiving God's Love. David could argue, the point is to get the Ark back to Jerusalem. I don't know why God wouldn't bless our efforts. After all the end justifies the means.

Carrying the Ark the way God told them to do it was symbolic of Christ's love for us. Christ, our Grace, carried the cross on himself. Bearing the word of God is an intimate experience not some remote on a cart activity

Follow the story. When the procession got to Nachon's threshing floor the animals stumbled and the ark looked like it was going to fall. In a human attempt to help God, in a rash moment, Uzzah touched the ark. God in swift judgment took his life on the spot for this sin. Had they carried the Ark the way God told them to do it in the first place this situation would not have happened. Because man wanted to do it their own way one person lost his life. No ask, "Does the end justify the means?"

Create a clean heart in me oh God and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10
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