Restoring Dislocated Worship

Restoring rightful worship of God means there must be a reordering of our lives.   #daybydaylw   Interested in learning more about becoming a devoted follower of Christ? Go to follow.lifeword.org!   ~~~   In the Spring of 1998 we were playing baseball somewhere in Texas. About midway through the game I hit a single and was standing on first base. I look over at my third base coach to get the signs, him telling me what he wanted me to do. He gave me the steal sign. So I took my lead off of first base and fixated on the pitcher, waiting for him to make his move towards home plate. He lifted his leg, and I took off towards second base. I knew it was going to be a close play, so I dove head first into second base, grabbing the base with my left hand as I slid past it. “Safe!” Was the call by the umpire. I start standing up, but as I look down at my left hand, which is still on second base, I notice that my ring finger is twisted and laying over my pinky finger. It had been dislocated at the middle knuckle. Our athletic trainer ran on to the field and tried to set it back in place by jerking on the finger, to no avail. What may have appeared as a minor injury, just a finger being out of place, affected my whole body, and what all I could do. I couldn’t finish the game. I wouldn’t be able to play again at full speed until that one finger was put back in place. We are in 2 Samuel 6, right in the middle of a tidal wave of change for the people of Israel. Last week we read and learned that David’s kingship over all of Israel had been confirmed by God, by others. And one of David’s first acts as King was to restore worship in Israel. You see, true, full, and right worship had been dislocated, so to speak. The ark of the covenant, the golden box that resided in the middle of the tabernacle, had been lost to the Philistines back in 1 Samuel 4. But through the providence and power of God, God had shown himself to be more powerful than Philistines, bringing plagues and pain upon them to the extent that the Philistines decided to return ark of the covenant, the symbolic representation of the presence of God. So they did that very thing, but the Israelites had forgotten, or they just neglected how they were to handle this ark, and they were punished as well. So they thought it best just to leave it at the house of a man named Abinadab. And that is what they did. For years, now, the ark of the covenant had been at the house of Abinadab. Israel’s worship had been dislocated, if you will. So David, in 2 Samuel 6, is restoring, putting right worship back in its rightful place, by bringing the ark of the covenant back into Israel, to the capital city of Jerusalem. That is what we are watching take place in 2 Samuel 6. So what does it take to restore worship? What will it take? Restoring the worship of God means there must be a reordering of our lives. Join us next week as we discuss what this looks like.