Once a month we invite a praise team from another local church to lead a night of worship at come2go. A couple weeks ago we had a group in from a Lutheran church. About half way through the evening, two little girls went right in front of the stage and began dancing, laughing & enjoying the music while the rest of the people in attendance looked on and smiled at the adorable scene.

As I surveyed the room, my heart touched along with the rest of the people’s, I thought to myself, “Awww, faith like a child”. I then realized that as those words passed through my mind not only did they contain a sense of endearment, they also contained a hint of sadness. It was as if I also said to myself, “I wish I had faith like a child where I would not think twice about being the only one in a room full of people that stood up and danced, laughed & enjoyed my time with God.” In that moment I longed for the innocence & freedom that those girls were enjoying.

One of my favorite accounts of King David’s life is when he brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 6:14-16 says:

David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might,  while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets. As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.

When God was forming me in my mother’s womb, He decided in His infinite wisdom to give me a total of zero measures of talent in the area of dancing. I’m absolutely horrible. One might assume that because I’m a musician I can keep a beat with my body…not even close. Maybe King David wasn’t as bad as me, but I don’t think dancing was one of his most refined talents either. Maybe part of his wife’s displeasure toward him & the situation she was observing had to do with how ridiculous David looked while he danced.

But what I love and admire about David is that he didn’t care how he looked when he danced. He wasn’t attempting to put on a show or impress the people he was ruling over. He didn’t seem to care if people thought he looked weird or said that it was out of place for a king to look so “undignified”.  David just allowed the joy he had in his heart and the love he had for God to collide with the expression of his body. He was much more concerned about God’s thoughts than other people’s. Maybe that’s why King David is forever remembered as a man after God’s own heart. (Acts 13:22).

At the end of the evening, after the praise team had finished playing, I was talking with the father of the girls who were dancing up by the stage. We briefly talked about how cute the girls were and what a precious sight it was. Then he said something very innocently that made a strong impact on my spirit. He said, “They would have danced all night if I would have let them.” He meant it in the best of ways as a father not wanting his kids to be a distraction or an annoyance to anyone; so that’s not what hit me. But I think God was communicating a spiritual message through his words.

At some point in my life I was either told or I learned through the culture in which I grew up that I had outgrown the freedom & innocence that those girls had in worship. When I got to a certain age or maturity level someone or something pulled back on the reins as if to say, “That was acceptable when you were younger, but not anymore.” I can’t put my finger on it, but at some point in my life I learned that I wasn’t allowed to dance all night.

The truth is we are all God’s children and we are all free to express ourselves in worship. We should never allow fear of any kind – being look at funny, being snickered at, being labeled over-emotional – to keep the joy of our salvation bottled up. The Bible says that it is for freedom that we’ve been set free! We never outgrow being His kids.

Can we worship without dancing or lifting our hands or shouting? Absolutely. But just like King David, God loves it when we worship Him unashamedly with all of our might and with everything we have. So let loose, dance, laugh & enjoy having the best Dad imaginable. Just be a child.

Please feel free to leave a comment below to start some conversations