LifeLink Devotional

Monday, November 16. 2020

For the next two weeks I want to share some of my favorite stories of thanksgiving from the Bible. I will share just a synopsis of the story but I will give you the Scripture passages where it is found so you can read the whole story for yourself.

When God called Moses to the mountain to give him the Ten Commandments, Moses was saw the Presence of the Lord. The glory He saw changed his face. Some time later the nation of Israel was instructed to build a container in which to carry those tablets of stone. That container was known as the Ark of the Covenant, and it represented the Presence of God with His people.

During one of the many wars fought for Israel’s independence, the Ark of the Covenant came into the possession of the Philistines. When King David rescued it, his desire was to return it to Jerusalem, symbolizing that God was once again present in Israel and blessing them.

When it came time to transport the Ark of the Covenant to its new home, King David knew that it must be a time of pure worship before the Lord. Take a few moments today and read the story in 1 Chronicles 15 and 16. Here are some highlights for me.

1. King David was careful to do everything in accordance with God’s commands and in such a way that God was honored. He appointed the descendants of Aaron and Levi manage the transport and lead the worship. But David did not trust their family heritage alone to qualify them for the task. Each one of the people assigned was to consecrate themselves to the Lord for His purpose.
   1. 1 Chronicles 15:12  “Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it.”
2. King David made sure that the celebration of the return of the Ark would be a massive worship service designed to raise the sounds of joy. I believe that God is offended when we apathetically worship Him. Our praise and thanksgiving to God is to be filled with enthusiastic rejoicing. King David appointed every known musical instrument to be played, including harps, lyres, and cymbals. He told them to raise the sounds of joy. He appointed singers to sing loudly with joy. And he assigned trumpet players to blow loudly before the Ark. Then he told everyone in the processional to shout loudly. This was the worship of the Presence of God.
   1. 1 Chronicles 15:28   “So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, to the sound of the horn, trumpets, and cymbals, and made loud music on harps and lyres.”
3. Then, after the Ark arrived, David made sure that the worship didn’t end. Every day, multiple times a day, the musicians and the singers were to burst out in songs of thanks to the Lord (1 Chronicles 16:1-7). We should be constantly rejoicing in the unending Presence of the Lord.

However, in the midst of this great story of thanksgiving, there is someone who rejected what was going on. Maybe she was jealous of David’s enthusiasm for the Lord. Maybe she was angry because she wasn’t getting any attention. Maybe she was frustrated that the worship was too enthusiastic for her liking. Whatever the reason, she made it known that she was not happy with the proceedings.  1 Chronicles 15:29  And as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David dancing and celebrating, and she despised him in her heart.

The choice is yours. You can praise the Presence of God, or you can persecute those who do. Please choose praise.

Pastor John