How Heavy Is Your Arc

There are some passages we read in the Bible that seem to go on and on and to be honest are kind of boring. The times that God is so specific on how He wants something done. I have found that even though these scriptures are harder to read they are also the ones that can have the most impact on us. For example in Exodus the Lord is telling the children of Israel how to make the Arc of the Covenant. For those of you who don't know what that is I will give you the Gena translation which is very brief. I would strongly suggest you read the Bible yourself to understand the importance of it.
The Arc of the Covenant was what the Israelites carried in front of them as they traveled in the wilderness . It held the Ten Commandments which were 2 stone tablets with the do's and don'ts God gave Moses for how they should live. It was very sacred as it was where the Spirit of God dwelled so He could be with them on the earth. Again this is a very basic explanation. Below are the verses explaining how it was to be built.
Message Bible Exodus 25 The Chest (Arc of the Covenant)
10-15 "First let them make a Chest using acacia wood: make it three and three-quarters feet long and two and one-quarter feet wide and deep. Cover it with a veneer of pure gold inside and out and make a molding of gold all around it. Cast four gold rings and attach them to its four feet, two rings on one side and two rings on the other. Make poles from acacia wood and cover them with a veneer of gold and insert them into the rings on the sides of the Chest for carrying the Chest. The poles are to stay in the rings; they must not be removed.
16 "Place The Testimony that I give you in the Chest.
17 "Now make a lid of pure gold for the Chest, an Atonement-Cover, three and three-quarters feet long and two and one-quarter feet wide.
18-22 "Sculpt two winged angels out of hammered gold for either end of the Atonement-Cover, one angel at one end, one angel at the other. Make them of one piece with the Atonement-Cover. Make the angels with their wings spread, hovering over the Atonement-Cover, facing one another but looking down on it. Set the Atonement-Cover as a lid over the Chest and place in the Chest The Testimony that I will give you. I will meet you there at set times and speak with you from above the Atonement-Cover and from between the angel-figures that are on it, speaking the commands that I have for the Israelites.
The Table
23-28 "Next make a Table from acacia wood. Make it three feet long, one and one-half feet wide and two and one-quarter feet high. Cover it with a veneer of pure gold. Make a molding all around it of gold. Make the border a handbreadth wide all around it and a rim of gold for the border. Make four rings of gold and attach the rings to the four legs parallel to the tabletop. They will serve as holders for the poles used to carry the Table. Make the poles of acacia wood and cover them with a veneer of gold. They will be used to carry the Table.
29 "Make plates, bowls, jars, and jugs for pouring out offerings. Make them of pure gold.
30 "Always keep fresh Bread of the Presence on the Table before me.
The Lampstand
31-36 "Make a Lampstand of pure hammered gold. Make its stem and branches, cups, calyxes, and petals all of one piece. Give it six branches, three from one side and three from the other; put three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on one branch, three on the next, and so on—the same for all six branches. On the main stem of the Lampstand, make four cups shaped like almonds, with calyx and petals, a calyx extending from under each pair of the six branches, the entire Lampstand fashioned from one piece of hammered pure gold.
37-38 "Make seven of these lamps for the Table. Arrange the lamps so they throw their light out in front. Make the candle snuffers and trays out of pure gold.
39-40 "Use a seventy-five-pound brick of pure gold to make the Lampstand and its accessories. Study the design you were given on the mountain and make everything accordingly."
Now you may be thinking that was really boring and what does this have to do with my world? Glad you asked.
As you can see by this description the Arc was pretty ornate and had a lot of Gold. It had loops on it so 2 poles also covered in gold could go through them so it could be carried by 4 men. Again, only men God gave the authority to carry it if anyone else touched it, even to keep it from falling, they would die. God was not messing around. What I found interesting is this thing must have been really heavy right? How heavy was it? I goggled, because that is what I do now, to get some kind of answer and this is what I found.
One of the Google Answers
The Bible says that the Ark was 2 1/2 cubits long, 1 cubit wide and 1 1/2 cubits high, and made from shittim wood, heavily overlaid with gold, with silver adornments. The mercy seat was said to have been 2 1/2 cubits long and 1 1/2 cubits wide, and made of pure gold (Exodus 25:17 "Mercy seat of pure gold" KJV), as were the two cherubim that surrounded it (Exodus 25:18 "two cherubim of gold, of beaten work" KJV). Since gold is roughly twice as heavy as lead, the structure would have weighed several tonnes.
OK so just go with me on this. If the Arc weighed several tons how in the world did 4 guys carry it? Were they superhuman? Remember they traveled all over the desert carrying the Arc it wasn't just for a few minutes.
What I found next really blew my mind. I came across this on a completely different Jewish study I'm doing on line. Coincidence? I think not.
There is an interesting concept in Judaism that the ark weighed nothing. (It is said that it actually "carried" its bearers along.) Figuring the dimensions and construction materials of the ark, and its contents, the weight of it would have been far too much for the four carriers to bear -- in fact it would have snapped the poles or broken off the golden rings they passed through!
I love this!!!! Only God would make something that in the natural weighed several tons but in the spirit weighs nothing. What it's saying is we were never meant to carry God. His design from the beginning was to carry us.
Sometimes as Christians we think we have to use our strength to handle life and all the crap it gives us and we hope that what we choose to do will honor God. We take on tasks of ministry work and beat ourselves up for how unqualified we feel. Sometimes it's just the day to day life we lead that we are exhausted by the end of the day and don't know if we'll have the strength to do it again the next day. We are trying to carry the Arc (God) instead of letting the Arc (God) carry us.
Sometimes we let the Arc represent Religion instead of God and we think we have to be a certain way before we can carry it and just like the guys who touched it and died we think we will die if we get too close to where God dwells. How many times do you hear people say “If I walked into a church the walls would fall down or lightning would strike”? They are kidding but like most jokes there is an element of truth there.
We are living in a time of so much uncertainty on how we are going to make it financially or emotionally. Well meaning people are telling us about God and we think I can't carry one more thing especially not something that will make me feel bad about myself.
Gems we were never meant to carry God! The verse in the Bible that says God's load is light is a reminder to us that He wants to be your strength. I don't know what your carrying today, I don't know what life has hit you with or what your struggling to get through but I know God does and He wants to carry it for you. Just like those men in the Bible that were chosen to carry the Arc of the Covenant I'm telling you they weren't superhuman, they weren't better than anyone else or holier they were just chosen.
Guess What? So are you. You are chosen to carry the Arc (Jesus) in your life all you have to do is give it to Him. How heavy do you think a relationship with God is? How heavy is your Arc? How long have you been trying to carry it?
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:30
We were never meant to carry God, let Him carry you.