Rejoice Like a Jesus Freak

The queen stared out the window and despised what she saw—her husband, stripped of his kingly clothes, dancing bare-chested in the streets like a commoner. Like a drunk. Did he have no shame? She let the curtain fall back across the window and turned away.

King David led the procession as the Ark of the Covenant was returned to Jerusalem. This sacred box, which held the stone tablets Moses had brought down from Mount Sinai, was being carted to its rightful place at last. This was cause for joy. It was cause for celebration. It was cause for dancing!

Trumpets blared, the people shouted, and David danced before the Lord as the procession wound its way into the city. His heart was filled to bursting, overflowing in this outward expression of childlike joy. God saw him and was pleased. God saw Michal’s reaction and was displeased.

They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord . . . When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"

David said to Michal, "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."

And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.
~ 2 Samuel 6:17,20-23 (NIV)~

God revels in the childlike joy of His people. Jesus Freaks aren’t ashamed to be fools for God. Like David, they’re more concerned with what God thinks than what other people think—even if it means they look silly in the process.

Have you ever been so happy you couldn’t contain your joy? Maybe it bubbled up in the form of spontaneous laughter. Maybe it spilled onto your features in a contagious smile. Maybe you hopped and danced. Or perhaps you felt so exhilarated you went for a run, taking the road in long strides rather than your usual mid-tempo jog. Somehow, you had to express that inner feeling of perfect happiness, you just had to get it out!

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Peter the Apostle Martyred in Rome, 65 A.D. 1 Peter 1:8-9 (NIV)