We Keep Looking for Carts, God Keeps Looking for Carriers
Glenn Packiam reminded us that we carry God’s covenant and He sustains us through it at the first annual MT Conference.
Read his talk below and join us this year November 17th-19th at City Reach Church in Austin, TX.
There is a hard scene in 2 Samuel 6.
David, newly crowned king, finally moves the Ark of the Covenant toward Jerusalem.
It is loaded onto a new cart. The oxen stumble, a man named Uzzah reaches out to steady it, and he dies on the spot. A day that should have felt like revival ends like a funeral.
It is easy to read that story and simply blame Uzzah. But 1 Chronicles 15 offers David's own later reflection on what actually went wrong. It was because the Levites had not carried the ark the first time, because nobody had inquired of the Lord about the proper way to do it.
The ark was never meant to ride on a cart. It had handles. It was meant to be carried.
The Cart We Keep Building
David himself is the clue here. In his years as a fugitive, before he was king, he was constantly inquiring of the Lord. Once he was secure and successful, that dependence quietly slipped.
Comfort has a way of doing that to anyone.
We keep looking for carts, but God keeps looking for carriers. No app, no system, no piece of technology will ever do the work of actually knowing God.
There is no shortcut into His presence, only a life spent seeking Him. It tends to be easy to seek God when you are desperate, and far harder when things are going well.
Three Things Worth Carrying Home
Three things stand out from that story, worth taking back into ordinary weeks:
Seek God. Not just for your team, your church, or your city, but for your own life. When Jesus restores Peter, He does not ask if Peter loves the ministry or the miracles ahead of him. He asks if Peter loves Him. That has to be the root of everything else. Your job may change, your church may change, your team may change. That love has to be the constant.
Set yourself apart. Consecration was never reserved for the people with microphones. It is for everyone, not just those on a stage. Holiness, at its core, is usefulness, not shininess. It is not about being kept safely on a shelf like china nobody ever uses. It is about being filled up and put to work, and every person carries a purpose worth being set apart for.
Sacrifice your whole life. In the ancient account, sacrifices were reportedly offered every few steps along the journey to Jerusalem, a small, repeated act of surrender the whole way there. Paul later calls this offering your body as a living sacrifice. It is not one dramatic moment. It is a rhythm, over and over, of remembering whose you are.
Every part of this only holds together because of Jesus, who is the temple, the priest, and the sacrifice all at once. Because He is, we are.
A Question Worth Sitting With
Before moving into another season of leading worship, it is worth asking honestly:
What cart have you been leaning on instead of actually seeking God? And what would a real practice of seeking Him look like for you this season, not generically, but specifically, right now?
Keep the Conversation Going at MT Conference
Moments like these are what MT Conference was built around: worship leaders, musicians, and creatives gathering to think through questions like these together, not alone.
MT Conference 2026 returns November 17 through 19 at City Reach Church in Austin, Texas, for three days of teaching, worship, and hands-on training designed to equip your team for the season ahead.
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