To continue my Inhibitions thread…we left off with David leaping and whirling in a worshipful dance before the Lord. His wife, Michal, looked down from one of the palace windows and despised him for acting so undignified. He was the king! Kings weren’t supposed to act like common men or worse!

I imagine her upbringing had something to do with her reaction. After all, she’d been raised as a princess, and as her father’s kingdom progressed, his pride in the office of king and opinion of himself as greatest in the land escalated. Some of this likely rubbed off on Michal.

During Michal’s childhood, there had been no true worship in Israel. It wasn’t until this moment during David’s reign that the focus on God was given its rightful place in the land. Michal’s bitter heart could not accept the change or the actions of her husband.

David wasn’t thinking about other people as he leapt and whirled, dancing before the Lord. His mind was God-centered and his worship was uninhibited.

I admire David for that, but I’m not sure I could be like him. Over the years I’ve learned not to feel awkward if I raise my hands during a church service, but dancing in the aisles isn’t likely to be something I will do this side of heaven. A certain sense of unacceptance holds me back (though I’ve been known to sway a bit and tap my toe). :)

Our American culture is more prone to a less exuberant worship than David’s Middle Eastern culture. Even today our Middle Eastern neighbors show a greater exuberance, a more physcial display of emotion than their European or Asian counterparts.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t be creative in our worship of the one true God.

For me, creativity in worship comes more in the form of a new song. I grow easily weary of repetition. I’m old enough to remember the days when we held worship hymnals in our hands and sang different songs from it each week. There were no screens on the wall with the words put up for all to read. There were no repetitive phrases and songs were not sung week after week with little change.

The Psalms tell us to “sing to the Lord with a new song”. For me that means new in a week by week way and new in a brand new, never been done before way. Give me some of the richness of the old hymns and give me a song someone in the congregation has written. But don’t let our music grow repetitive and stale.

After all, we’re singing to the King!

Happy Monday!