2233 Dancing With God — Кассета

Have you ever just been swept away by God’s goodness? Totally overwhelmed by how he provided, how he came through, and how he did what only he could do? There’s just this emotion that rises up from within you – an emotion of gratitude. And what do you do with that gratitude? How do you express that? In the Old Testament, King David had this overwhelming gratitude for God. He was so incredibly humbled by the fact that he was chosen and guided by the Almighty. Even after his moments of weakness and failure, God would strengthen him. Even after David felt fear and anger towards the Lord and sat on the very thing he was told to do for 3 months, God would give him another chance. And this awareness of God’s hand over his life brought David to dancing. In fact, scripture says David “danced before the Lord with all his might.” What was David doing? He was worshiping God. This overwhelming gratitude couldn’t be contained. Even a King had to stop everything and dance. Reading in 2 Samuel 6, starting in verse 13, “After the men who were carrying the Ark of the Lord had gone six steps, David sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. So David and all the people of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and the blowing rams’ horns.” Okay, so what exactly is this occasion and what are they carrying? Ready to really study your Bible with me? The people were carrying the Ark of the Lord. The word ark means box or chest. This particular chest being carried was divinely sacred because it contained the literal presence of God. Remember this is before Jesus, so before the gift of the Holy Spirit. Today we have the presence of God with us through the Holy Spirit. When we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of Jesus, we are found worthy of carrying the very presence of God inside of us. But before Jesus, that could never be possible. God’s presence was entirely too sacred and entirely too powerful to be in us, touched by us, or even seen by us. 400 years before King David, there was Moses. The Lord had given very specific instruction to Moses on building this wooden chest, covered in gold where God’s presence would be carried with his people. The chest was 3’9″ long, 2’3″ wide, and 2’3″ high. Inside were the tables of the law written by God’s own finger, a jar of manna (that miraculous provision of bread from heaven that God gave his people to eat for 40 years in the wilderness), and Aaron’s rod. Now, it was time for this chest carrying God’s presence and these special items to be moved by the Israelites. Doing so was a big job with very big consequences. To move it, they decided to build a new cart and roll the sacred chest on. But, we see that failed. The oxen pulling the cart stumbled, the chest began to slip, and a man reached out to steady the chest. Touching it, God struck him dead. Yip, this is some serious business. The presence of God is not to be taken lightly. What had gone wrong here was they ignored God’s very specific instructions from 400 years ago that this chest was always to be CARRIED. Carrying it was a burden the Lord designed and desired. Hmmmmm, now think about that. Here we are walking around with the very presence of God now living inside of us, thinking everything is supposed to just be easy. And when it’s not easy, we throw ourselves a full grown woman hissy fit. There’s a prescribed burden with carrying the Lord with us. Every step is important because you’re carrying the most important thing ever, my friend. You and I are carrying the Holy Spirit. If that feels like a burden at times, understand – it is. It’s a holy burden for holy work. It’s not always going to be easy. Now doing the ROAM Tour and seeking ways to go out with God and find the hurting souls he wants to love and provide for, I’m experiencing a new tired like I’ve never experie