Unashamed of the Lord
When I was reading in the Old Testament, I came across the famous story of how King David danced before the Lord. And while I was reading it I became convicted of my our walk with Christ. How is it that David was so shameless about his love for God and yet I can struggle to talk about Jesus with my friends. I asked the Lord about this and He showed me something cool about how David got to that place where he was shameless about the Lord. Let’s check it out.
But when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset it. And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God. David became angry because of the Lord’s outburst against Uzzah, and that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. So David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” And David was unwilling to move the ark of the Lord into the city of David with him; but David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. Thus the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.
2 Samuel 6:6-11 NASB1995
The story starts with the newly appointed King David setting out to recover the ark of the covenant. They had got the ark and were bringing it back to Jerusalem when something bad happened. One of David’s men, Uzzah, was walking with the ark and saw that it was almost upset by the oxen. Uzzah then reached up to hold the ark, only to be struck dead by the Lord for his irreverance. Now David was upset by this, but he learned to fear the Lord. Because of this incident, David no longer wanted anything to do with the ark out of fear. So he sent it away to the household of Obed-edom, where the Lord brought blessing.
Now it was told King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, on account of the ark of God.” David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness. And so it was, that when the bearers of the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. And David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouting and the sound of the trumpet.
2 Samuel 6:12-15 NASB1995
After David sees that the house of Obed-edom is blessed, he decides that the ark should be brought up to his house. But this time we see a new kind of awe. David starts the journey back with a sacrifice after six paces. Some scholars believe that it was either one sacrifice at six paces, or a sacrifice every six paces. Either way David has started this journey off with reverance. And while this was happening, David decided to dance before the ark of the Lord all the way to Jerusalem. Here is what the Lord showed me. At first David went to get the ark, but when Uzzah died David learned reverance. After that, David saw that the Lord blessed those who had the ark, and thus David learned of the goodness of God. But here is that dynamic, the holy power of the ark was something to be desired, yet reveranced. It was God’s throne, yet also His blessing on your life. When David learned that God was both to be feared and desired, this is what unlocked in David a shamelessness. He didn’t care what other people thought because he was only concerned about what God thought. And he was so happy about the blessing of the Lord that it filled him with joy to shamelessly dance for God. IF we want to want in shamelessness for Jesus we have to learn to fear him, and we have to learn about his goodness. Ask the Lord for these things and become shameless for Jesus!
For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Luke 9:26 NASB1995
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