The Dance

 2 Samuel, chapter 6 tells of King David and the bringing of the Ark of the Covenant into the city of Jerusalem. It was a wonderful celebration, and David led the celebration. So much so he was leaping and dancing in complete joy before his God. 

We tend to focus on the reaction of David's wife, Michal, to David's behavior. She despised him for it, thinking it an undignified and coarse way for a king to act. That was happening, but there was also something more, something deeper taking place as well. We're told that David was dancing before the Lord. I think he was dancing WITH the Lord as well. A dance of deep intimacy with the God we profess to love.

Lisa Harper once spoke on this. She said, God calls us to learn to dance with Him, and as we do so, He says to us, 'Don't look at your feet. Look into My face.' I think in our walk with Him, our dance with Him, we're spending most of our time looking at our feet. We wonder if we're getting this thing right? How do we look to anyone who's "watching?" Do we seem to know what we're doing? Do we look foolish? Are the impressed with our skill? Is the Lord? We're self-conscious, which is a polite way of saying we're self-centered about it all. Our focus is not on Him, but upon ourselves. We're looking at our feet while He calls us to gaze upon His face. It's impossible to notice anything or anyone else when you're looking into the eyes of the One who is the lover of your soul. 

Harper also said, We often feel that God grimaces when He sees us coming. Do we really feel that He delights in us? We feel that all He sees is our failures and imperfections. Our sins. We think He endures us. His Word tells us that He treasures us above all else. 

David was a man who failed the Lord greatly, and more than once. Yet his songs of love to the Father that are found in the Psalms speak of his God's steadfast delight in him. And in you and me as well. May the power of the lie of a grimacing God be broken in our lives. May we begin to approach Him with the sure knowledge that we come to a God who takes infinite delight in just being with us. Yes, there may be issues to be dealt with, sins to be confessed and repented of and cleansed from. If we have drifted from Him, there will be healing and restoration. In intimacy He will minister to us. He delights to do so.

Wallflowers is a cruel word for those whom no one has asked to dance. They stand against a wall, unwanted and rejected. With God, there are no wallflowers. He calls us into His embrace. An embrace He doesn't want to end. He asks us to look not at our feet, but into His face. A face that looks exactly like His Son, Jesus Christ. The face of unconditional love.

He stands before each of us right now, arms open wide, calling us into His embrace, into His delight and love. Will you have this dance....with Him?

Blessings,
Pastor O