Dancing with God

¹⁴ Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, ¹⁵ while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.  —2 Samuel 6

I attended my son’s church over this Labor Day weekend, and I saw a young woman in the balcony who was dancing before the Lord during the song service.  I was going to take a short video of her, but then I thought no, this is between her and the Lord, this is HER expression of worship to the Lord, and worship she did!  Just as David was dancing and leaping as the Ark of the Lord was brought into the City of David, so was she dancing and leaping before the Lord.

It was inspiring, it was beautiful, it was meaningful.

I also witness those in my own church who worship with raised arms and out-stretched hands, and especially those who have really been saved from a life of drugs and abuse and crime.  Those people have  a specific understanding of what it means to be saved from a lifestyle of sin and they know WHO to worship and how to worship. 

We all should worship so fully, so devotedly, so completely, with such abandon and commitment to God.

Saul’s daughter, Michal, ridiculed David for his dancing and worship and accused him of being vulgar in front of his servants and their slaves .  David quickly reminded her that “it was before the Lord” that he danced and worshiped, “and I will celebrate before the Lord. ²² I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. ”

The honor of people did not compare to pleasing the Lord in worship.  David and all of Israel celebrated before the Lord with all their might;  David danced before the Lord with all his might. 

Their worship was a celebration of knowing the Most High God, The Creator of the Universe, The Author of their salvation, an act of total commitment to Him.

⁶ With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
⁸ He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.    —Micah 6

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.        –Romans 12