Dancing Before The Lord

I was flipping channels on Sunday Morning before Barb and I left for worship. My tribe has only a few television programs and I happened across one. It was the closing moments of the program and the picture was of a congregation singing. They were all dressed in their “Sunday Best”, with books held high, but still not looking at the leader. No smiles, a very solemn look on each face. As I reflected on that scene, it struck me that that picture was someone’s idea of what worship should look like. That is how they thought people should act in worship. My next thought was, how sad, how very very sad. Where did we get these kinds of ideas? They did not come from Scripture. Maybe some of it comes from the time when we thought it was “wrong” for men to weep, or when children were to be “seen and not heard”—who knows, but this mind set did not come from God! When David brought up the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, we are told that he, “danced before the Lord with all his might” (2 Sam. 6:12-14). “To those who did not understand the redemption brought by this God, David’s actions no doubt seemed odd. Yet for those of us who have even greater reason than David did to rejoice and dance before the Lord, worship ought to be the very character of our lives.” Philip Kenneson, “Life On The Vine”. Take a moment and read the following scripture, I Peter 1:3-9. Did you hear that? "filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy" If you can read that and not be excited you are in a coma! (Sorry, that may be an overstatement) It could simply be that our lack of excitement is really a lack of understanding of what God has done for us in Christ. If understanding that doesn’t light your fire, as my old daddy used to say, your wood's wet”. In case you are wondering, I am not advocating dancing before the Lord. But let me quickly add, for those who always look for a "thus saith the Lord". There you go!