The Right Desire, the Wrong Order

For a long time, I have believed that if my intention is right, then everything else will somehow fall into place. If my heart is sincere, if I am trying to help, if what I am doing feels right, then surely that should be enough. However over time, I have started to realize that intention alone does not always lead to the right outcome.

There was a season in my life that brought this very close to home.

I had a friend who was going through a difficult time in her marriage. They were separated, and naturally, I felt the need to be there for her. My family and I would visit her often, and in my heart, I believed I was doing something good. I thought I was supporting her, being there for her, making sure she did not feel alone. It was my genuine intention, but little that I realized something shifted without me even realizing it.

During those visits, I began to interact more with her parents, who were also staying with her. Conversations would move in that direction, and somewhere within me, I thought I was helping by engaging, by keeping things balanced, by being present in the overall situation, but what I did not see in that moment was what was happening beneath the surface. My presence, which I thought was support, was being used in a different way.

Instead of bringing comfort to her, it was unintentionally adding pressure. Words were being spoken behind us, comparisons were being made, and what I thought was helping was, in some way, contributing to her pain.

I did not see it immediately because in my mind, I was doing the right thing. Looking back, I can say this honestly my intention was right but the order was wrong.

That realization stayed with me, and it came back strongly when I was reading 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chronicles 15.

David wanted to bring the ark of God back home. There was a genuine desire to restore what had been lost. There was excitement, celebration, and a longing to place God back at the center, nothing about that desire was wrong, but when they set out to bring the ark, they placed it on a new cart. It looked right. It felt right. It even seemed respectful.

But in that moment, they had overlooked something important.

They had not sought the order that God had already established. When the oxen stumbled, Uzzah reached out to steady the ark and then everything stopped. What began as celebration turned into fear. That moment is difficult to understand at first, but when you read further in 1 Chronicles 15, David himself explains what happened. He says that the Lord broke out against them because they did not consult Him about the proper order.

That line stayed with me.

It wasn’t that their desire was wrong, but it was that they assumed they knew how to carry what was holy. David did not abandon the ark after that. He paused. He stepped back, returned to God to understand the right way. When he came back again, he did not change the desire, but he corrected the order.

And that is where it became personal for me because I could see that same pattern in my own life. There are moments where I step in with good intentions, wanting to help, wanting to do what is right, but without pausing to ask God how to do it. I assume that sincerity is enough because it feels right, it must be right.

But sometimes, without realizing it, I may be carrying something the wrong way, that is not always easy to accept because it means that doing the right thing is not just about what we do, but also about how we do it.

As I sat with this, a quieter question began to form within me. Am I only concerned about doing the right thing, or am I willing to pause and ask God if I am doing it in the right way?

Sometimes, the difference is not in the desire but the difference is in the order and perhaps that is the invitation in this passage.

Not to stop doing what is right, but to pause, and realign ourselves with how God wants it to be carried because when the order is right, what we carry will not become a burden but will become something that honors Him.

God is not only interested in what we carry for Him, but how we carry it before Him.

Every prayer, share, and act of support is deeply appreciated.