"Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes!" 1 Chronicles 16:43
Are you willing to be called foolish for the sake of the Lord? As we reflect on Michal's remarks I have to study the source from which it came. This was Saul's daughter who, though was chosen by God to be King sought and served Him, disppointed God, and was given a tortmenting spirit to live with. This man grew to despise David spending much of life trying to kill his very own son-in-law. Ironically, 2 Samuel 6:16 says that as Michal watched David leaping and dancing before the Lord she was filled with contempt. The word contempt means regards anything considered mean, vile, or worthless; the state of being despised. It is hard to believe her feelings went so deep. How sad that she could not join in the celebration, dancing and leaping before the Lord.
There was a time "BJ" (Before Jesus was Lord of my life) in my life that stood not in a window looking down but a sanctuary observing women dancing and praising the Lord. These women were singing, moving, some weeping as they worshiped a God they new intimately. Though I was raised in church and been there all my life, I did not this God or understand this demonstration of worship. I deemed it a bit foolish, showing lack of caution or regard for those around them.
After years of following hard after God, I know the God this women knew. This God has redeemed me, forgives me, counsels me, loves me, protects me, plans for me, provided for me, leads me, teaches me, and I love it as well as Him. I can sit in a sanctuary now and participate in the singing, moving, weeping and understand the meaning of the demonstration of worship. I will allow others to deem it foolish because they don't understand my demonstration of worship is for an audience of One.
I have to believe this is what David was doing as he entered the streets of Jerusalem that day. The Ark was being returned and in total regards and respect as it should be. Finally, the Presence of the Lord will with His people. David was dancing for his audience of One joining in corporate worship with his people. David obviously new a God Michal did not know.
Throw caution to the wind, dance and leap before the Lord today. You only need an audience of One.
There was a time "BJ" (Before Jesus was Lord of my life) in my life that stood not in a window looking down but a sanctuary observing women dancing and praising the Lord. These women were singing, moving, some weeping as they worshiped a God they new intimately. Though I was raised in church and been there all my life, I did not this God or understand this demonstration of worship. I deemed it a bit foolish, showing lack of caution or regard for those around them.
After years of following hard after God, I know the God this women knew. This God has redeemed me, forgives me, counsels me, loves me, protects me, plans for me, provided for me, leads me, teaches me, and I love it as well as Him. I can sit in a sanctuary now and participate in the singing, moving, weeping and understand the meaning of the demonstration of worship. I will allow others to deem it foolish because they don't understand my demonstration of worship is for an audience of One.
I have to believe this is what David was doing as he entered the streets of Jerusalem that day. The Ark was being returned and in total regards and respect as it should be. Finally, the Presence of the Lord will with His people. David was dancing for his audience of One joining in corporate worship with his people. David obviously new a God Michal did not know.
Throw caution to the wind, dance and leap before the Lord today. You only need an audience of One.
17 Comments:
Wendy, that verse also caught my attention today. I was thinking how we often speak of freedom of worship in our Country. We are not like other countries who are imprisoned for their faith. Yet, a self-imposed prison often shackles me and holds me captive from complete abandoned worship. The urge to express myself is locked by the key of embarassement.
David seemed oblivious to those around him. Gazing eyes didn't stifle his spirit..or God's Spirit in him. He is at complete liberty to celebrate "with all his might" as Morgen emphasized in her comments yesterday. His action is ridiculed, but not restrained.
I struggle so much with throwing caution to the wind, as you encourage. I long to 'let go', but being a member of the "People Pleasing Association" I place too much importance on the reactions of others.
Beth Moore writes, "Hard lessons learned well undoubtedly usher in a fresh respect and a new freedom. As strange as this statement may seem, the more we learn about God, the more freedom we have to worship Him."
Trusting that as we continue this walk through the Bible this year, my love for the Lord will grow to such delight that I will not and can not remain part of the 'frozen chosen'.
May inhibition turn to joyful, uncontrollable expression,
Joy
PS. Forgot to share the other verse I focused on today, 1 Chronc. 15:13, 15, concerning the proper way of transporting the Ark. God cares about the details of our lives. He's concerned about the 'fine print'. He desires we obey even the smallest truth in our life, that when we hear a new Word we immediately want to know how we can live it out for Him. He wants every "jot and tittle" followed (Matt 5:18). In other words, we need to sweat the small stuff!
Worshiping without restraint, is something I have learned to do, even though I also have belonged to the PPA (People Pleasing Assoc.) :) And I am sure that it helps to belong to a church that invites and encourages that type of worship. We lift our hands and arms and sway with the music. I like to close my eyes and try to envision Jesus (even if it is a vision from Passion of Christ) and Sing with my arms raised high. It removes me from the physical place I am at and puts me right with God.
For me I know that Worship is at the beginning of our service so that it can prepare my heart to receive God's word. When I allow myself to open up in worship it gives God the access He needs to speak into my heart.
Good reading.... Wendy thanks for your time prayers and insight.
Have a Blessed Day everyone!
Lynn - OR
Wendy, I loved what you said: "my demonstration of worship is for an audience of One." It's allowing our focus and attention to be on God. That's where it at and that is where we need to strive to keep ourselves. Pleasing God, not man.
To me, David proved great because:
1. He had a strong love for God and His Word.
2. He prayed for guidance.
I loved David's Song of Praise too.
"thanks to the LORD... ...continually seek him...remember the wonders he has performed...tell everyone about the amazing things he does...Great is the LORD...His faithful love endures forever..."
This part hit me too:
"Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise, for the LORD is coming to judge the earth."
Speaking of worshiping an audience of One...think about this:
God has still much more for us...I don't think we can even comprehend plans he could perform with each one of us if...we would hold nothing back from fulfilling His will. That is where I want to be.
Love & Hugs & Blessings & Smiles,
Lori - AZ
I am a silent, but steady reader in southern Louisiana. Wendy, thank you for all your thoughts, insights and prayers. I enjoy reading everyone's comments and I pray for those who have asked for prayers. I just usually keep to myself but today feel moved to share that I also want to be more like David, and dance for the Lord with praise. I need to teach myself to worship for the "audience of One."
My other thought today is, on a much lighter side - I didn't know that fruitcake can be traced back to the Bible. 2 Samuel 6:19 "Then he gave to every Israelite man and woman in the crowd a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins."
Love to all of you, and thanks for all your sharing that keeps me reading with you!
Debbie
Hi Ya'll
I caught several typos today. Please forgive me. As many times as you proof read you still don't catch them all.
Thanks for the grace!
Goodmorning all,
Lovely reading and insights once again Wendy!
I have officially dubbed I & II Samuel the books to go for encouragement when I feel overwhelmed with life's struggles.
It provides guidance on;
how to be patient and the rewards thereof,
how to remain faithful to God and the rewards thereof,
obedience to God and the rewards thereof, &
how to seek God's guidance & follow His instructions and the rewards thereof.
Wow, it even teaches persistancy when saughting after one's desires (Saul persistently pursued David), but I'm focused on being persistently good -LOL!
Be blessed all!
Chanan
Bahamas
Today's reading is such a nice overflow of our "praising Him with all our might" discussion. David "danced before the Lord with all his might". And can you imagine the sound of the cymbals, trumpets, harps, choir, and lyres? "A great celebration" it says! David was skipping and laughing with joy! Not how the movies depict kings!!!
Ladies, let's shout His praise! Let's burst out with joy! And all the people shouted, "AMEN"!
Morgen
ps...Debbie...your fruitcake comment really cracked me up! Thanks for the day brightener!
Morgen
Amen indeed! Morgen, you were a great lead in to today's readings yesterday! Thanks for your comments. Did you notice that David didn't stop emphasizing praise when he brought the Ark to Jerusalem? In 1 Chronicles 16:41-42 -
"David also appointed Heman, Jeduthun, and the others chosen by name to give thanks to the Lord, for “his faithful love endures forever.” They used their trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments to accompany their songs of praise to God. And the sons of Jeduthun were appointed as gatekeepers."
I think it is great that he appointed a praise band for every day... :)
Have a great day all!
Karen, CA
today i am dancing before the Lord...it is the 10th anniversary of the day God gave me my daughter tess from china...Praise my God and Saviour and Redeemer ....i am crying and worshipping and thanking and dancing before my Lord... thank you...
my daughter is NOT dancing, physically, however. she is casted from a growth plate fracture, and is extremely disappointed at this point of the performance/competition season. yet in our adversity, i praise God that He has brought into our lives the right pediatric orthopod and the many empowering prayers of the Faithful. i praise God that, @ 11yrs old, in adversity, my young daughter is claiming her healing, and reciting her favorite Scriptures...
you have turned my mourning into DANCING! psalm 30:11
my healing shall spring forth SPEEDILY! isaiah 58:8
...and a child shall lead them
praise You Lord,
amy jane
(OMG - I just read my post and find that I'm WAY too long. Sorry.) I too was raised in a more conservative church in which people who outwardly expressed their worship of God were looked at with raised eyebrows as if the next thing they might do was dance down the aisles of the sanctuary. I thought they were ‘fanatic’, and once even suggested that should they pass around Kool-Aid, I would NOT be drinking any. Ohhhhhh - how VERY wrong I was, and I pray that I'm forgiven for being judgmental and critical.
I know now that there is absolutely nothing wrong with my outward displays of worship, as long as they are not disrespectful to God! But I will say that I too am often 'locked' up in the idea of worrying about what other PEOPLE think of my worship rather than just focusing on God!!
The other thing that struck me is that Michal remained childless for the rest of her life. And if you've noticed, I tend to get distracted sometimes by the 'not-so-important' aspects of the passages that we read, but I have to wonder about something because my heart is sad for Michal.
Michal loved David early in the game, but at some point when Saul was determined to kill David, she was given to Paltiel in marriage. After Saul was killed, and David was about to become King of Israel, David demanded that she be returned to him. Paltiel, who must have loved her deeply, followed after her weeping, until they told him to go back home.
When she confronted David with contempt (disapproval tinged with disgust) for his very public and uninhibited display of worship upon the Ark of God being returned to Jerusalem, he 'retorted' (replied in like manner or attitude) that he would become even more undignified than this if necessary.
I can’t be certain of what David and Michal’s relationship was like, but I feel somewhat safe in saying that at this point in time, their relationship was probably not so good. Perhaps they once shared an intimate relationship, but after this exchange of hateful words, the scripture indicates that Michal remained childless for the rest of her life. Did God close her womb, or was David so filled with his own disapproval of her that he chose to keep away from her, thus causing Michal to remain childless? I can’t say for sure, and it doesn’t really matter, but in an age where children were considered a blessing from God, Michal was potentially a very bitter woman – no loving husband, no children to love and care for, no relationship with the God that could heal her wounded heart. How sad! All she had to do was open her eyes and her heart to the idea that simple worship of God could release her wounded and broken heart.
Contempt, disapproval, disgust, being judgemental…. All very dangerous attitudes that can leave us bitter and unahppy - distanced from God and our families. And this just reminds me to watch my words and speak kindly to the people I love - and even those whom I don't much care for!! And this Sunday at church (and every other day for that matter), I intend to praise God with ALL that I have so that people can see how much I love God!!
Hello all,
Thank you all so much for what you add each day to what I have read and to what Wendy has said. I always walk away from this page blessed.
As usual I was blessed again. I wanted to add that there was a lot of fruitcake given. He gave cake to every man and woman there. I wonder who baked all those cakes and loaves of bread. He must have been a very giving king.
Elizabeth AR
All good points Paula,
Thanks for sharing! I was struck by those same passages, and I don't think they are "not-so-important." I think that God includes these passages in His Word so we pay attention, question and learn from them.
I too put a question mark in the margin next to Saul giving David's wife to Paltiel, and then noted his weeping when she was returned to David. I don't know why David asked for her return. I agree that she must have been sad, broken, and bitter. Later on, David's daughter Tamar shares a similar future. I wonder what the story is in the lives of these women. Are they like Hagar? Did God meet them in their need and fill them with His grace, mercy and love in their alone times? It doesn't look like Michal was too open to it in this story, but maybe in her later years she was.
Karen, CA
Over the past weeks my pastor has been encouraging us to worship and praise God because:
Worship and praise is the only part of our corporate gathering that is for God and God alone. God doesn't come to church to hear the Word, he is the Word. He doesn't come to see who is there and how much they are giving in the offering, He knows that already. He comes because he is seeking such to worship him in Spirit and in Truth. When we are worshiping we are speaking to God, When we are listening to the Word, God is speaking to us. So for those people who are interested in just the Word and not worship, What they are saying is God I have nothing to give you, so I'm only showing up for what you have to give me.
And then last night he said when we worship God, God inhales our worship like a sweet smelling savour and then he exhales his glory down in and through us!
2 Corinthians 2:14-15 (King James Version)
Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
For those of you who struggle with PPA,(People Pleasing Assoc) I promise you if you ever break free from that bondage and experience the freedom of praising God with no restraints, you will NEVER be the same. Praising God in total freedom is the antidote for so many of the medications people take today to get from one day to the next.
Praising God with all that is within me!
Debbie - North Carolina
I love everyone's comments today.
Wendy, I know you have recommended "I Am Not But I Know I AM" by Louie Giglio. I would also like to recommend another of his great books called "The Air I Breathe - Worship As a Way of Life."
In it, he tells of something in our culture that really convicted me when I read it.
He discusses our culture's involvement at sports events - how willing we are to shout, cheer, wear the colors, and sometimes even paint ourselves (okay, I've never gone this far :). He calls this behavior our own form of "worship" of our favorite teams.
Yet, he asks how willing are we to go to this extent for Christ in worship? Do we shout, cheer, wear the colors, and paint ourselves for Him?
Just thought I would share this! Like I said, it really convicted me.
Also, I am so glad to finally find out who "Asaph" was. I always read "A Psalm of Asaph" in the Psalms. Now I know where this comes from. Yea!
Kristen, thanks for sharing from "The Air I Breathe". Great example. I am a quiet sport enthusiast...cheering on the inside. I think it comes from years of being raised in a home where children were seen, but not heard. Expressing myself outwardly is still a challenge in every area.
Debbie, I long for the freedom of worship you obviously enjoy.
Thanks for all the words of encouragement. Great comments today.
Blessings,
Joy
Debbie in NC I really like what your pastor said about worshiping...I copied it so I can give it to my pastor.
When I worship the most is at the piano...as long as I am by myself...for an audience of One. Time can pass and I don't even know it. I forget the washer has quit, the dryer is done, and I need to sweep the kitchen floor.
Here's one I really like. "I Exalt Thee" by Pete Sanchez Jr.
"For Thou Lord art high above all the earth.
Thou art exalted far above all gods.
For Thou Lord art high above all the earth,
Thou art exalted above all gods.
I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee,
I exalt Thee, oh Lord,
I exalt Thee, I exalt Thee,
I exalt Thee, oh Lord.
How can you not fly while exalting God!
Today a neighbor came up to the house and I didn't hear her,(I was playing the piano) and she finally opened the back door and yelled is anyone was home.
Jan TN
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