Come on and celebrate…….

David conquers Jerusalem – the fortress of Zion – the City of David. Against all the odds.

He has a palace built for him.

He takes more concubines and wives and has more sons and daughters.

Everything is looking good.

Mainly because ‘the Lord God Almighty was with him’.

And because ‘the Lord had established him as king over Israel’.

He doesn’t forget that. He doesn’t forget to trust and obey.

When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they went up in full force to search for him, but David heard about it and went down to the stronghold. Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim; so David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands?”

The Lord answered him, “Go, for I will surely deliver the Philistines into your hands.”

So David went to Baal Perazim, and there he defeated them.  2 Samuel 5:17-20

When the going gets tough, he doesn’t rely on his own strength. He knows who to turn to.

David then gathers his men to move the ark – the symbol of the presence of God with His people – from Baalah in Judah to Jerusalem.

There is great celebration –

David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.  2 Samuel 6:5

I wonder how many of us have celebrated before God with such enthusiasm and noise?!?

The celebrations come to an abrupt end however when one man Uzzah reaches out to steady the ark when the cart it is on wobbles….and he is immediately struck down by God. David is scared by this and refuses to take the ark onto Jerusalem…

…..until the ark remains in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months and the household is blessed beyond belief.

David wants that blessing on his household so has the ark moved. This time the singing and dancing and praising are even more crazy…

Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.  2 Samuel 5:14-15

….so much so that David’s wife Michal is disgusted by the spectacle he is making of himself (and her response renders her childless for the rest of her life) –

“How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”  2 Samuel 6:20

I love David’s answer –

“It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”  2 Samuel 6:21-22

Boojah!

God’s presence is powerful and awe-inspiring and demands respect, but it is also a wonderful blessing and something to celebrate……

But we’re British. We’re reserved. We don’t do things like that. We worry what people will think. We’re scared of making a fool of ourselves.

We treat enthusiasm as childish.

And yet we have so very much to celebrate!

Have we forgotten how to celebrate?

Well, how to celebrate God anyway……

We seem to remember how to celebrate when our team wins an important match…..or our favourite band comes onto the stage…….or when our child gets great results or lands a good job or announces an engagement.

Then we know how to celebrate all right….

Isn’t it time for a bit of whooping and cheering and dancing and shouting and singing?

I want to celebrate the God who chose me.

Even if it seems undignified.

Even if I risk feeling humiliated.

If I can chant for Asda (which I did at 845 this morning in front of a bunch of my bewildered colleagues), then I can definitely shout about the all-loving living God!