There are two ways to look at things. You can either try to look ahead to see the best course of action, the best road to take, the best way to avoid possible problems, troubles, trials, and pitfalls in your path, or, like most of us, you can just take off in whatever direction you are pointed, do whatever it is you are thinking of doing and don’t bother with any advance planning. The problem with the latter approach is that it gives you the opportunity to find out what the phrase, “hindsight is twenty-twenty” means. It means that looking back after the event tends to show you clearly where you made all of the mistakes you might not have made if you had given a little thought to things beforehand. Unfortunately, by this time you are left with few options except to try to clean up the mess, being left with nothing to do except deal with the consequences of your actions when a little forethought would have enabled you to avoid the consequences altogether. Hopefully, when you make mistakes that thinking ahead could have avoided, you will at least learn from your mistake and not make the same one again. In 2 Samuel 6:1-9 we read about David’s first attempt to return the ark to the tabernacle in the City of David. This attempt did not go well. David decided to transport the ark on a new cart. When the oxen stumbled, Uzzah put his hand on the ark to steady it and “Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.” (verse 7). Verses 8 and 9 say, “And David became angry because of the Lord’s outbreak against Uzzah; and he called the name of the place Perez Uzzah to this day. David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, ‘How can the ark of the Lord come to me?’” In 1 Chronicles 15 David calls for the Levites, and in verses 12 and 13 he tells them, “...sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it. For because you did not do it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him about the proper order.’” Uzzah died for touching the ark, but David is ultimately to blame. The information as to how the ark was to be moved was available to him, “And the children of the Levites bore the ark of God on their shoulders, by its poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord.” (verse 15), but David didn’t bother to look until after problems arose. A little thought, a little caution, a little time thinking about possible consequences, could keep us out of a lot of trouble. In Proverbs 4:26 Solomon said, “Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established.”