2 Samuel 6:8-9–And David was angry because the Lord had burst forth against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah, to this day. 9 And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”

The most influential book that helped me to “bridge the gap” in learning how to read the Bible was “Experiencing God” from Henry Blackaby.  It was a devotional that I would read, when I first was “saved” alongside my Bible, that helped me to experience God through His Word…
However there is a stark difference between experiencing God in His Word, and experiencing God through a situation that also confirms that He is God, and that we should rightly fear Him!  This is not in contradiction to grace and mercy, or the erroneous conclusion that God is different in the Old Testament than the New Testament.  The difference is that Jesus satisfied the wrath of God in the New Testament, which is why He is our “substitute” in making us acceptable to God, if we believe…(Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8)
We can confidently say that David experienced God in His victories as a young boy, and as King.  But in the passage above, we see that David became particularly afraid of God on the day He struck down Uzzah!  A particular experience, caused David to see God in a different way than He ever had.  It brought him such a fear that he didn’t want to handle “the ark”, which symbolized the presence of this terrifying God!
I’ve had a particular moment, that has shaped the way I see God surely for the rest of my life.  This experience doesn’t contradict anything about God’s grace, mercy, and love, yet it was made clear to me, that He is just and will show Himself to be God, if I presume on His kindness!  To honor this attribute of God that we should fear Him, nowadays we sort of resist.  Yet I can say, that experiencing God in that way has scared me enough, thus far, from making certain decisions!  (However after this experience, David would commit adultery and murder, so an “experience” doesn’t alleviate us from being even more wicked, just to be clear!) (Proverbs 10:27, Romans 2:4, Hebrews 10:26-31)
Like David, when we experience the holiness of God in such a way that we become afraid of Him, I believe it’s not for us to remain without desiring His presence. Because though David left the ark with someone else, he realized his need for God’s presence, and certainly desired it because of his relationship.  But that experience taught David, like it should teach us if we have had it, that it is unwise to measure our relationship with God, in comparison to other people.  That our conviction to obey and do what we are called to do, comes from the fear of the Lord, and a relationship we genuinely honor from a personal encounter. (Proverbs 9:10, Proverbs 23:17, Proverbs 24:21, 2 Corinthians 10:12)
In His Love, Ld