I recently led a study on 2 Samuel, Chapter 6. In it, David's forces, flush with victory, bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, but on the way a man touches the ark and does. So David sends the ark to another man's house in fear. Then, when he has heard that the Lord has lessed the man's house, he has it brought back to Jerusalem the way it should be, and dances before the Lord and "worshiped with all his might". His wife, Michal, sees this and hates David in her heart, and rebukes him saying that a king should not disrobe and lower himself to the level of slaves. David replies that in the eyes of the Lord and himself, he is nothing more than that, and that by becoming as the people, David is glorified by them.
The part about the Ark aside, I have to try and learn to be more like David and less like Michal. There have been times where I have been judgemental of epople who serve the Lord with joy, and I often accuse them of being false or smarmy, and not genuine in their behavior (in my heart, not to their face). But I need to be the one who is genuine and worships out of honesty and with fearlessness as David did.
The Christ tied this in well, in the Gospel of Mark when the discpiples are agruing amongst themselves who is the greatest as they walk to Capernaum. He told them that if you wish to be the greatest, then you must make yourself the servant of all. David danced before the Lord stripped of his kingly garments with the slaves and common people. Christ died lower than anyone else on the Earth, condemned, cursed, and hated as a crucified ciminal would be.
And so I must be, willing to take up my cross and follow the Lord, praising with all my might.
I am something of a perfectionist; in whatever I do, I like to do it well and see it through to the end. Anything less than a good job in my work that pleases my boss frustrates me. I want to be able to worship, using my instruments that I am fortunate to have. This means that I should practice often, so that when I worship the Lord, I can worship with all my might and skill.
In the end, I want to hear, more than anything else, "Well done good and faithful servant."
I would have it no other way.
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4 comments:
Dang, I need to figure out how to edit these. This has typos in it...
go into your dashboard and then manage blogs
I enjoyed what you wrote..good word.
Good for you David! I'm glad you learn when you lead and not only lead, that is so encouraging to me!
As for the rest, it's pride you are struggling against when you want to do YOUR best... but do you know that some of the most spiritually uplifting moments come from those who have little to no musical ability, those whom God is shining through because they aren't worried about talent, they aren't woried about performance, they simply want to praise God... it's wonderful to just praise Him... try it, and don't think of it as something you need to do with others around you!
Hugs & Love
There is a very fine line. The Lord does demand our best; out tithes as our first fruits, and our very lives. How is it that I cannot give my very life up without working hard to make that sacrifice as pleasing as possible?
THe only thing I can say is that a person must have discernment in knowing when they must strive more and when they must rely on the Lord's strenght.
I know that I need to practice my guitar playing, so that by the fall, I'll be good enough to participate in worship. This is a goal I want to work hard/smart to achieve. God isn't going to suddenly give me loads of natural talent; skill is made by practice and devotion.
This concept of working for the Lord out of devotion vs. everything else deserves another blog post of its own. But all I mean to say is that I should take full joy in the Lord, and worship him all the more because of it.
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