Friday 5-1-15 (Los Altares, Argentina)
Scripture reading: 1 Chron
14-15 Ps 132 Matt 18
S. 1 Chron 15:29 But as the Ark of the LORD's covenant entered
the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window.
When she saw King David dancing and leaping for joy, she was filled with
contempt for him. NLT
O.
Dancing and leaping for joy was not proper conduct for a king. Or at least that is what Princess Michal,
Saul’s daughter, David’s wife thought.
She looked down from her palace window at the scene of celebration and
despised David in her heart.
The first
thing I notice is that Michal was not a part of the celebration. Many hundreds of people were a part of it and
certainly she was invited to participate with the others… but instead she
preferred to watch from a window enclosed in her luxurious palace. She was not going to lower herself to become
a fool, joining with these fanatical “Pentecostals” out there. Well, of course, she would not use the word
“Pentecostal” which had not been coined yet, but the idea was similar. “There goes my husband, the king, dancing
around in a linen ephod and leaping like a playful lamb… making a total fool of
himself in front of all the young girls.”
And as soon as David comes popping in the door, with a dancing, joyful
heart she lands on him with hateful words intended to shut down his foolishness.
A. I
think I have been there. There has been
a marvelous move of God in the church. I
stand on the street corner waiting for my bus, singing in my soul with great
joy. It is now past midnight as I get
off the bus and practically dance on tip-toes the last 5 blocks toward my
house. I pop in with a smile from ear to
ear on my face. And some family member
who has stayed home from church and missed the celebration, takes one look at
me and says, “Wipe that smirk off your face and get yourself to bed!” I want to share with them my joy. I want to tell them about the sermon and the
powerful altar service. But alas, they
would never receive my words… since they stayed at home looking out the “palace
window” (or maybe watching TV?) like Princess Michal.
P. Oh
Lord, no one can ever understand the joy You bring us while observing us from
the other side of the window. It is
true, we Pentecostals can get noisy… which, I guess, is proper for ball games,
but not for many civilized religious people.
A few days ago I sang with the Las Grutas youth, alongside a darling
little 3 year old girl who was waving a flag along with other kids her age and
up. Youth, 65 years old and down… danced
and waved flags in the air as they sang songs of great joy to the Lord.
Dear
Lord, if I had been looking at this from my palace window I might have thought,
“These people are having far too much fun to be religious.” But I was not looking out a window. I was right in the middle of them and my feet
were begging to join in the dance. So
Lord Jesus, I pray that You will keep me where Your people of all ages are
worshiping You with all their hearts and celebrating Your presence. Far better than an Ark made of gold, a symbol
of Your presence, You, Yourself are with us… Emmanuel. Hallelujah!
Amen.
Ralph
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