Worshipping with Abandon


My husband sometimes says I remind him of "sweet Polly purebread"...in the best of ways.

And certainly my upbringing was such that there are things a "good girl from West Michigan" might not do...for example - raising my hands as I am singing in church.  After all - wouldn't that be embarrassing?  Wouldn't it call too much attention to myself?

But this week I read the story in 2 Samuel that tells of the day King David went to retrieve the Ark of the Covenant and return it to his city.  

Now the Ark held the pieces of the stone tablets on which God had written His commandments for Moses and the people of Israel.  The top of the Ark was called the Mercy Seat and the Ark represented a powerful sign of God's holiness, power and presence.  

As it was entering his city David did not even try to hide his joy. 

Samuel 2 6:14 says, "Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets."

Now upon seeing David leaping and dancing, his wife Michal was ashamed, and the Bible says she "despised him in her heart;"  so much so that when he returned home, she confronted him saying, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!" (2 Samuel 6:20)

Michal was afraid of what people thought.  

Michal was letting her view of what was "proper" be the standard, and in doing so, when she saw her husband worshipping with abandon - she determined it was vulgar.

Michal was ME!...

But David responded, "It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from this house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord's people Israel - I will celebrate before the Lord.  I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes." - 2 Samuel 6:21-22

You see - David didn't care what other people thought.  He only cared about the Lord. He only cared about showing the Lord how much he loved Him, how grateful He was for His blessings, and how happy he was to be able to bring the Ark back to the city of David.

Shouldn't I be more like David?

So often I view worship as "serious business"... but maybe, if I look to the example of the one God called "a man after His own heart" - I should be celebrating as David did: with selfless abandon, and great joy!








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