A MORE EXCELLENT WAY TO GIVE PRAISE – Pastor Chris
Monday, May 23, 2022
And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod (2 Samuel 6:14).
There’re those who thought that in the verse above David was merely dancing in the flesh. So, oftentimes they’d say they want to dance like David danced, and they start gyrating with all their might. No! David was a man of the Spirit. When the Ark of God was being brought into the city of David, our theme verse says “…David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.”
Notice the underlined part. In those days, dressing with a linen ephod represented the office of the priest. Whenever the priest was in that regalia, he functioned in his spiritual office. David was girded with a linen ephod; being also a prophet, evidently instructed by the Spirit, his dance as described in the Hebrew text was very different from the fleshly dance of normal celebrations.
When the Bible says he danced before the Lord, the Hebrew word for dance is ”karar”, and it doesn’t refer to the kind of whirling and gyrating that most people think. “Karar” means to skip and jump and spin, turning around about your own axis, like a child.
David’s dance is similar to what Jesus did in Luke 10:21; the Bible says, “In that hour Jesus rejoiced (Greek: agalliao) in spirit….” He was skipping and jumping like a child. So, that David danced with all “his might” doesn’t refer to exerting himself physically on the dance floor, like most people do today. The term is “oze, oze” in Hebrew, meaning that he danced with all his glory, all his majesty; he danced with all of God’s regalia on him. Glory to God!
The best description for it in the New Testament is the Greek word “agalliao”; it’s a dance from the inside. Dancing in the flesh distracts your spirit from true reverence and worship; it dissipates spiritual power, and many don’t realize this.
In these last days, the Spirit of God is showing us a more excellent way to give God true praise and worship. The days of fleshly dance in Christian congregations are over. When we worship the Lord, it must and should always be in the spirit: “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3). Also, John 4:23-24 says, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
PRAYER / CONFESSION
Dear Lord, thank you for the privilege of worship and for guiding me on the way of true praise and worship that’s acceptable to you. Thank you for granting me the ability to condition my mind and senses to offer you true worship from my heart that transmits your glory to impart my world, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
FURTHER STUDY
John 4:23-24 NIV; Philippians 3:3 NIV
1-YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN
2-YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN
1 Corinthians 11:30-34; Proverbs 19
