Unhindered

Why are dogs always so excited to see you?  It is like their whole body jiggles from their tails wagging.  The smallest hint of praise makes them want to jump up on your lap.  They are the friendliest, most domesticated animals I have ever seen.  Right now I am just looking at my male dog.  He sees me and is so happy.  He wags his tale and the minute I move he jump up to me and tries to get me to play.  I throw the ball and he jumps and wiggles, his whole body barely able to contain the excitement he is feeling… 

How cool would it be if we got that excited about something?  I used to get pumped up.  I used to get so excited that I would almost burst.  I used to…  Then the world came in and looked at me funny.  They would say things like – “it isn’t right to get so excited”, “tone it down”, “people don’t like it when you get so excited about something.”  Due to all that, I did tone it down.  I dialed my excitement back and would keep it in check.  I still get excited, but not like I used to.  You can ask my high school friends, when I would get excited about something I would bounce around the room.  But, because the world told me to, I dialed it back quite a bit. 

I used to get so excited about Christ.  I used to lift my hands to praise him, clap, sway with the music, just be in his presence.  But then I started to notice the strange looks I was getting from people around me and dialed it back yet again.  I used to spend days in the chapel, in God’s presence, but now life has gotten in the way.  I used to get on my knees to pray and submit myself to God, now that all feels foreign because the world has told me to dial it back. 

If we should get excited about something, shouldn’t it be Jesus?  Shouldn’t it be the fact that we have eternal and everlasting life?  Shouldn’t it be because we are given grace that allows the broken, beaten down and dirty to come to Christ and be cleaned?  Should we be excited about things that matter instead of actors or sports figures?  (Speaking to myself here since I am a diehard football fan!). 

God is bigger than all that, He is larger, more able to bless and save than anything else in this world.  Recently, I got my old Who’s Who in the Bible book out.  I started reading through it and came upon a story that I feel relates to this.  It is a story of Michal.  Now Michal was the son of Saul, the king that was out to Kill David.  Michal and David had fallen in love and were married.  Michal covered for David as he ran to escape from Saul claiming that David was sick in bed.  They were great friends, and spouses.  After David escaped, Michal and David’s marriage was annulled and Saul gave Michal to Palti.  When David came back and was king, about 10 years later, David wanted Michal back.  So she was taken from Palti (2 Sam 3:16) and given back to David. 

Obviously this caused Michal to not feel quite as fond of David as she should of a husband.  In 1 Chronicles 15, it tells the story of the Ark of the Covenant and how this was to be coming back to the City of David.  It was a time for great rejoicing.  David put on his best clothes, organized a parade, made a huge deal about the Ark of the Covenant coming back.  Of David receiving God’s blessing for his city.  Why wouldn’t, or shouldn’t he have been excited?  He was so excited that he danced through the streets, he was unhindered, using this as his love for God.  David, the writer of many of the Psalms, one of the kings that was considered the best, the man responsible for having the bloodline to Christ, he was excited.  He wanted to praise God. 

1 Chronicles 15: 29 “As the ark of the covenant of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window.  And when she saw King David dancing and celebrating, she despised him in her heart.”  (NIV)

After that, Michal was rude to David and he pushed her off, treating her no longer as a wife.  She didn’t want to celebrate God, so he didn’t want to have that influence around him.  Michal died childless and alone.  I think that Michal was a “praise stealer”.  I think that the world is full of praise stealers.  We give glory to God and people look at us with contempt saying we are preachy or we are not being genuine and putting on a show.  If I put on a show to show my love for the Lord, how much better is that than to show my love for a famous person?

Think about it…  Look at Justin Beiber or Elvis even, girls run and flock to them because they were cute and famous.  They would faint or try to touch him, wait in line for hours to catch a glimpse of them.  How cool would it be for us to act that way about God?  For us to get excited about Him and His work instead of earthly things.  Today, my goal is to glorify God in all that I do, succeed or fail, I want Him to be the center of it.  I don’t want it to be about me, but about Him. 

I don’t want to be a Michal and steal people’s joy and praise- I am not going to judge- instead I am going to praise the Lord and enjoy being in His presence.