"David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating
with all their might before the Lord."
2 Samuel 6:5
The words WITH ALL THEIR MIGHT keep echoing in my head and heart. Have I ever celebrated before the Lord with all my might?
I don't think so.
Later the text reads,
"David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with
all his might, while he and the entire house of the Israel
brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the
sound of trumpets."
2 Samuel 6:14-15
He did what?
He danced before the Lord (and all of Israel) with all his might. Can you imagine what that looked like? Crazy! Wild! Passionate! A total spectacle!
While most of the crowd joined along with shouts and trumpets, his wife Michal, was totally horrified. In her eyes his behavior was totally undignified, an embarrassment.
Now when I read about her chastising King David, who is a Biblical hero, my first reaction is "how dare she!" But as those verses have lingered in my mind and heart I realize that I am a lot more like Michal than David. Ouch!
Have I ever worshiped with ALL MY MIGHT? No.
Why not? Is it because God is not deserving? Is it because He has never earned my worship? Is it because He does not care about worship in modern times? No, no, no!
In all reality it is because I am either too busy running onto the next step in the "plan" instead of taking the time to worship and celebrate before God OR because I do not want to be noticed, looked at, or to "lose control" as King David was willing to in worship. In my church we are much more stoic than that. We may clap... a little. Some may raise a hand in praise. We do tap our toes. We do smile. Our hearts do rejoice, but we are not too passionate, never out of control.
I realize that much of this is cultural. We are a quiet stoic people here way up north. We are who we are and because we are not dancing up a storm does NOT mean we are not passionately in love with our Savior. However there are moments I would love to see and experience David's passion. I would love to be free of my insecurities and celebrate Jesus with all my might. I would love to be surrounded by a congregation that joins me with shouts and the sounds of trumpets all of us overwhelmed with our desire to worship the Lord.
I would love to respond to nay-sayers just like David responded to his nagging wife.
"I will celebrate before the Lord.
I will become even more undignified than this.
I will become humiliated in my own eyes"
2 Samuel 6:21-22
And in all honesty at the same time, I would not love it! I hate conflict. I hate sticking out from the crowd! I like to feel safe, to fit in, to remain unnoticed!
So why then do these verses about celebrating and worshiping WITH ALL MY MIGHT nag at me? Because He deserves so much more than I give, because He is constantly drawing me out, because He loves to stretch me. OH, does He love to stretch me!
And in reality, in my heart of heart, I want to live ALL of my life WITH ALL MY MIGHT for HIM! I want to die exhausted, having done my very best to serve Him, worship Him, honor Him, love Him, praise Him, and celebrate Him with all my might!
I pray that we will each take a moment and listen to where He is leading us, how He is stretching us this Easter weekend. How can we better serve the One who died to set us free?
