Hello friends! Welcome back to another lovely day of study. Today we see some of David's first conquests as king. Combined with the song sung by the women of "david has killed his ten thousand" and these battles you can start to see why people associate David as a great warrior king and the kind of shoes the messiah was expected to fill. That's why it was so shocking for Jesus be claimed the messiah when he doesn't kill 10 thousand but instead saves 10,000 (and more!) Hope you enjoy today's reading. Thanks for joining :)
Scripture to Read
Audio Bible
Questions to Consider
What does this teach me about God?
What does this teach me about humanity?
What does this reveal to me about Jesus?
What about the psalm sticks out to me?
- My Thoughts -
Two thoughts today!
David has to capture Jerusalem...I've never really noticed that before. But Jerusalem, which is THE center of the Jewish faith when Jesus was doing his thing was enemy territory at one point. I find it telling to imagine that the heart of the faithful movement sometimes isn't in places that are safe or comfortable. What areas of our community do we need to "capture" in order to move forward in our faith or as a church? Is it establishing itself in homeless communities? In poorer communties? In racially diverse cities? What does it mean that the "enemy" territory is where God's next generation can grow?
David dancing around the ark in absolute joy for worship is one of my favorite lines of scripture. I'm not sure where we got it wrong but at some point in history the church became very...stiff. Children are not to make a peep lest God smite the family down. We are to stand with our backs straight, talk in hushed tones, and be very, very, very still. That's not biblical. Like at all. David danced all night long, he was sweating profusely by the end of worship. Two years ago I went to a convention of worship bands and leaders and saw thousands of people my age jumping around and dancing to worship music that played more like a rock concert. I left that night looking like David...sweating from every pore, my hair a mess, my eyes puffy from tearing up, and hugging everyone around me (remember when we could do that?) as we talked about how cool it was. I'm not talking crap on traditional worship either, I LOVE a high quality cathedral style service where the vocals echo off the gothic walls. But, I'm reminded that there is no one way to do worship. Traditional and contemporary worship aren't enemies, and dancing in church isn't weird...it's Biblical, and like David says to Michal, is worthy of love in God's eyes.
Prayer:
God, let me worship you with my whole body. Let dance because of the joy you give me. Let me sing without shame. Let my spirit glorify your name with kindness, with hope, with peace, and with love. To this I pray to the newborn king, Christ Jesus. Amen.