The Attitude of Worship
I read an interesting article the other day by Dr. Steve Phifer entitled “When Kings Dance.” It was referring to King David dancing before the procession returning the Ark of the Covenant. Dr. Phifer identified the point of the story as one of humility versus pride. And that identifies the attitude we should have in our private and corporate worship, but most importantly corporate.
David’s dancing was before God, but there were plenty of people around to witness it. Here he was a regal king of the highest stature in the land. You expect someone like that to be very reserved and dignified in his behavior. But David was so excited, he cast off his kingly attire and celebrated, totally unconcerned with what anyone might think. He was not naked as some have described, and his underwear (the linen ephod) covered a bit more than our underwear today. Yet David’s wife found his lowering himself before his subjects deplorable. David was demonstrating how to be subject to God; how to forget about ourselves and celebrate the God of the universe with genuine, whole-hearted adoration.
David’s response to his wife as recorded in 2 Samuel 6 was that he was only thinking about God during his celebration, and he was willing to be even lower and more undignified to lift up the God of Israel whom he loved so much. It’s the attitude that is at issue, not the behavior. The same attitude depicted in the following song.
“I will dance, I will sing, to be mad for my king. Nothing Lord is hindering this passion in my soul. I’ll become even more undignified than this. Some might say its foolishness, but I’ll become even more undignified than this. Leave my pride down by my side.” – Matt Redmond
It’s hard sometimes to balance the story in 2 Samuel 6 with Paul’s directive in 1 Corinthians 14:40 to, “Let all things be done decently and in order,” but it is all in the attitude. God deserves the effort it will take for us to continually check our hearts to make sure He is the focus as we fully express our love for Him in the company of others. Looking back at David and Michal, she was the one punished for her attitude, while David was near and dear to God’s own heart. Which would you rather be?
from my notebook 