David feared God - Obed-edom was blessed by His presence.

1 Chronicles 13:1-14 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Then David consulted with the captains of the thousands and the hundreds, even with every leader. ² David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if it is from the Lord our God, let us send everywhere to our kinsmen who remain in all the land of Israel, also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their cities with pasture lands, that they may meet with us; ³ and let us bring back the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul.” ⁴ Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim. ⁶ David and all Israel went up to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belongs to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, the Lord who is enthroned above the cherubim, where His name is called. ⁷ They carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. ⁸ David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals and with trumpets.

⁹ When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, because the oxen nearly upset it. ¹⁰ The anger of the Lord burned against Uzza, so He struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark; and he died there before God. ¹¹ Then David became angry because of the Lord’s outburst against Uzza; and he called that place Perez-uzza to this day. ¹² David was afraid of God that day, saying, “How can I bring the ark of God home to me?” ¹³ So David did not take the ark with him to the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. ¹⁴ Thus the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months; and the Lord blessed the family of Obed-edom with all that he had.

In Genesis 3:8-10, after the fall, it says:  They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”    God created Adam and Eve; He created us, all people to have fellowship and communion with Him. It was the tree of knowledge of good and evil which Adam and Eve ate from. Man was created with a free will, but as long as there was no knowledge of evil, there was no sin. Unfortunately, the nature of man causes us to choose evil over good; evil over God, when we have the knowledge of evil. The guilt of sin, knowing that they chose disobedience rather than obedience caused Adam and Eve to try to hide from God. In the same way the guilt of sin causes us all to hide from or be separated from God.  Hebrews 4:14-16 says:  Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.      Jesus, through the cross, reconciled us to God. Through the cross we are restored to what God intended from the beginning, to full fellowship and communion with Him. As the verse says, we can obtain mercy and find grace in the time of need.   Everything we could possibly need or want is available in God’s presence. God is I AM, He is everything we need. In His presence we have protection, provision and peace. Because of Jesus and the cross we are no longer separated from God by sin and guilt, but rather we can go boldly into His presence for anything we need. Even more, as the psalmist says in Psalm 37:4, Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.    If we remain in fellowship and communion with God, not just going when we have a need, if we delight in His presence all the time, we will receive our hearts desire in Him. We were created for fellowship and communion with God, that is the true desire and what will truly satisfy the heart of every person.

We should not take lightly the privilege and blessing we have, through Christ, to be reconciled to God, to have the relationship with Him, intended from the beginning, restored. God is a holy and righteous God. That has not changed nor will it ever change. In today’s text David’s desire was to return the Ark of God’s presence to Jerusalem. The text says:  David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if it is from the Lord our God, let us send everywhere to our kinsmen who remain in all the land of Israel, also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their cities with pasture lands, that they may meet with us; and let us bring back the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul.” Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.     It continues saying:   They carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals and with trumpets.    David and all the people were doing a good thing. They were praising and celebrating in the presence of God. Then things took a turn. It says:  When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, because the oxen nearly upset it. The anger of the Lord burned against Uzza, so He struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark; and he died there before God. Then David became angry because of the Lord’s outburst against Uzza; and he called that place Perez-uzza to this day. David was afraid of God that day, saying, “How can I bring the ark of God home to me?” So David did not take the ark with him to the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. Thus the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months; and the Lord blessed the family of Obed-edom with all that he had.     See, here’s the thing: while they were doing a good thing and zealously celebrating and praising God, they were not moving the ark in the way God had prescribed that it be moved. God had set forth clear directions about how and who could carry the ark, and it was not on a new cart pulled by oxen.  The text says that David became afraid. His disobedience caused there to be a fear of rather than fullness in the presence of God.

Notice that the text says:  Thus the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months; and the Lord blessed the family of Obed-edom with all that he had.   There was and always is blessing in the presence of God. But, we need to know and understand that just as God had a prescribed way to move the ark and Uzza suffered the consequences of disobedience; God also has a prescribed way for us to come into His presence. It is only through the restoration and reconciliation of Christ and the cross. As the verses in Hebrews say:  Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.     Let us recognize and understand though that it is only because of the cross that we can come at all, let alone boldly. We cannot presume on God’s grace, thinking and trusting that we can come or walk in His presence and enjoy His blessings, by doing it our own way. We indeed have a choice, all of the blessings of God or separation from Him. There is though no choice in the way for us to come into and walk in the presence of God. He has determined and prescribed the way and it is Jesus.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You that we are reconciled and restored to what You intended, to fellowship and communion with You. Thank You that everything we need and everything we want is available in Your presence. Thank You that You made the way for us to come and walk in Your presence. May we never presume on Your grace, trusting our own way, but rather because of the grace of the cross, may we walk in the blessings of Your presence.   Amen.