DANCE LIKE DAVID

2 Samuel 6:14   "Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod”; v16:  “Now as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart”.

I always go to church expecting, I always expect the Lord to show up, and to give me something, a new word.  Sometimes a word from the Lord is personal, but I find most times, it is a word He means to be shared with others, to give them the same clarity, the same new wisdom that He gives you.  Understand me please, I do not take credit at any time for any of this….I only know that if I am prepared, if I am expectant,  if I do my part, the Lord ALWAYS does His.  So before I went into church, I made sure I tore some pages from my little notebook, tucked them inside my Bible and had my pen within easy reach.

As we were praising the Lord, the song began “When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon my heart, I will dance like David danced”.  As we sang, the Lord began to speak to me.  David was stripped down to just his linen ephod, it was a short garment that was worn over their clothing, but it gave freedom for dancing; nothing fine or kingly about the one he wore.  The Lord showed me that as David wore this unrefined garment, he was setting aside all there was about himself, about his worldly status, and worshiping the Lord in sheer abandonment, and that this is the same attitude that the Lord wants us to come before him to worship Him.  Yes, you say, well we have no royal attire so we are already stripped down to commonness.  That is not what the Lord was telling me.  He wants us to abandon ourselves, abandon those self-righteous attitudes, fear NOT what others think about us as we give ourselves into complete glorification of our God, into total surrender of self unto Him.  Just let go of all our inhibitions and religious chains of propriety, of the “proper” behavior in church we have been taught since childhood, but to just relax and rejoice in His presence and dance, dance, dance like David did.

Just as Michal did……rise herself up in religious attitude, in her “position”, her “status” in  life…. There are some folks in churches that have this “status” and think they have to be on guard of how they behave at all times.  Behavior that is expected of a Christian is not the same thing as behavior of a child of God dancing before Him, praising, worshiping Him with all their heart.  No one should ever feel they are above the call of sheer abandonment to worship God.  What a disappointment they will feel, and truth be told, I have a feeling there was a part of Michal that wanted to be that free….although nothing was ever said like this….and I am sure at that time if you had asked her, she would deny it….if you met her today….it might be a total different story.  The reason I can say this openly is that I know that feeling.  There was a day when I thought I could not abandon myself to worship, what would people think, how would it look.  Yes, foolish I was….but no longer.  However, the people that will seem to despise you for this behavior are mostly the people that wish, they too, could be free to worship in complete and total abandonment to the Lord.

We are meant to be free in the Lord…..we are meant to be free from fear of what other’s think of our worshiping the Lord with all our hearts….we are to be free to show the love we have for our Lord and to be a testimony of that love, that freedom of worship….an example for others to see, to desire, and to join in.

When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon my heart, and He does very often, I will dance like David dances, I will shout like David shouts and I will worship like David worships.  I use the word in the present tense, because…..if this is how David, or I, or you worship on earth, it will only intensify when we get to Heaven.  I know David is leading throngs of people, dressed in righteousness, in complete abandonment, worshiping our Lord, giving Him all the honor, all the glory, for He alone is worthy of all our worship, all the time….true worship in complete giving of ourselves, complete and unashamed abandonment…….it is all about HIM!

Patspennings 8-04-13