When our boys were small, on summer days when a soft, warm rain fell, they often asked if they could go outside and play in it. I was reminded of those sweet days last spring when our grandson Silas did the same thing.
He put on his swimming trunks and headed outside, first just running a few steps out, then racing back in under the carport. Gradually he ran further and further, eventually out to the old water oak stump some thirty feet from the house, stood there a minute hopping up and down, holding his arms out to present the most skin to the sky, and laughing uproariously.
He must have gone at it for ten minutes, running back to the carport and excitedly jabbering, “It’s wet! It’s cold! It’s fun!” then running back out into the rain even further, eventually to the swing hanging from the live oak limb out past the well.
But it was still spring and his little chin began to quiver, and all too soon we had to take him in and dry him off.
Do you know what started all this? Pure, unadulterated joy. He and his little brother had been with us for five days while Mommy and Daddy were out of town, and although we had a great time, when they drove up that afternoon, it was clear who were most important in his young life. They were back and before long they would take him in his own car seat in his own “blue car” to his own home and his own room where he could sleep in his own bed. I know the feeling.
But life may have made me forget that feeling of pure joy.
Despite the troubles of life we always have real reason for joy, and God expects us to show it. David had that joy, and he expressed it before the people of Israel as they brought the Ark of the Covenant to his newly captured capital city. But he was married to someone who didn’t have it, and who did not understand. She scolded him and received this reply:
[It was] before Jehovah, who chose me above your father, and above all his house, to appoint me prince over the people of Jehovah, over Israel: therefore will I play before Jehovah, 2 Sam 6:21.
.Do you see the word “play?” David was out there “leaping and dancing before Jehovah.” That’s how he was playing. That Hebrew word is found in Job 40:20, “the beasts play in the field.” You will find it in Prov 8:30 and 31 where it is translated “rejoicing,” and in Job 5:12 where it is “laugh.” The same attitude that had Silas laughing and playing in the rain had David playing before Jehovah--joy.
When was the last time you felt that way about God and your relationship with Him? I think we are a little like Michal—too embarrassed to act like God means that much to us. We are too conscious of ourselves and how we look, and far too worried about what other people think.
If I am too embarrassed to show the Lord how much He means to me, I wonder, on the day He comes to pick us up and take us home, if He might be too embarrassed to act like we mean that much to Him.
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, I Pet 1:8.
Dene Ward
For hints, help, and instructions on using this blog, click on the FAQ/Tutorial page on the left sidebar
He put on his swimming trunks and headed outside, first just running a few steps out, then racing back in under the carport. Gradually he ran further and further, eventually out to the old water oak stump some thirty feet from the house, stood there a minute hopping up and down, holding his arms out to present the most skin to the sky, and laughing uproariously.
He must have gone at it for ten minutes, running back to the carport and excitedly jabbering, “It’s wet! It’s cold! It’s fun!” then running back out into the rain even further, eventually to the swing hanging from the live oak limb out past the well.
But it was still spring and his little chin began to quiver, and all too soon we had to take him in and dry him off.
Do you know what started all this? Pure, unadulterated joy. He and his little brother had been with us for five days while Mommy and Daddy were out of town, and although we had a great time, when they drove up that afternoon, it was clear who were most important in his young life. They were back and before long they would take him in his own car seat in his own “blue car” to his own home and his own room where he could sleep in his own bed. I know the feeling.
But life may have made me forget that feeling of pure joy.
Despite the troubles of life we always have real reason for joy, and God expects us to show it. David had that joy, and he expressed it before the people of Israel as they brought the Ark of the Covenant to his newly captured capital city. But he was married to someone who didn’t have it, and who did not understand. She scolded him and received this reply:
[It was] before Jehovah, who chose me above your father, and above all his house, to appoint me prince over the people of Jehovah, over Israel: therefore will I play before Jehovah, 2 Sam 6:21.
.Do you see the word “play?” David was out there “leaping and dancing before Jehovah.” That’s how he was playing. That Hebrew word is found in Job 40:20, “the beasts play in the field.” You will find it in Prov 8:30 and 31 where it is translated “rejoicing,” and in Job 5:12 where it is “laugh.” The same attitude that had Silas laughing and playing in the rain had David playing before Jehovah--joy.
When was the last time you felt that way about God and your relationship with Him? I think we are a little like Michal—too embarrassed to act like God means that much to us. We are too conscious of ourselves and how we look, and far too worried about what other people think.
If I am too embarrassed to show the Lord how much He means to me, I wonder, on the day He comes to pick us up and take us home, if He might be too embarrassed to act like we mean that much to Him.
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, I Pet 1:8.
Dene Ward
For hints, help, and instructions on using this blog, click on the FAQ/Tutorial page on the left sidebar
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