In Spirit and Truth

WORD UP! Then David said, “From all the Levites, 24,000 will supervise the work at the Temple of the Lord. Another 6,000 will serve as officials and judges. Another 4,000 will work as gatekeepers, and 4,000 will praise the Lord with the musical instruments I have made.” - 1 Chronicles 23:4-5 So, let me get this straight… King David planned to build the Temple of the Lord, and out of a “workforce” of 38,000 people, 65% were supervisors, 15% were upper management, 10% were bouncers, and 10% were musicians? No WONDER David never actually got the temple built! (His son, Solomon, got the job done though.) But in fairness to David, he was already way up there in years when he issued these orders. This was obviously a construction project of biblical proportions, and it makes me wonder if some of the ancestors of PENNDOT were advising the King on the best way to get this temple built! One can only surmise that David had a lot of other matters to attend to, and so the construction of the structural temple was left to the next generation. It’s a tribute to his vision and leadership that those he left in charge completed the project after he was gone. But David DID manage to complete some major RE-construction during his time on this earth. David saw to “RE-building” the temple of PRAISE. The restoration of praise and worship in the church was very important to David, and God used this unlikely king to introduce a revised form of worship, praise and thanksgiving to God’s people, beginning inside a little tent which he pitched around the Ark of the covenant, and later in the temple that Solomon built. This worship was new, and unlike the worship of the mosaic tabernacle, it involved many people being able to come into God’s presence and worship Him openly. In the time of Moses, only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and that one man could only enter in once each year. David’s tent foreshadowed how the sacrifice of Jesus Christ would enable each of us to enter into God’s presence and worship openly there. David’s tent also opened the door for people like us – the gentiles. (Did tents have doors in those days?) The coming in of the gentiles in the book of Acts is the fulfillment of the restoration of the tabernacle of David, as described in the book of Amos. Thanks to the vision that God gave to David way back when, you and I are now allowed to worship God openly, in Spirit and in truth. ALL of us. So why hold back? Why not let it all hang out and worship God for all we’re worth, in Spirit and in truth, and with greater enthusiasm and passion than we have for anything else? Are we inwardly afraid that someone will see us and report us to the high priest, who might ridicule us for “not doing it right?” Don’t let that happen to you. God has given us the freedom to worship openly, and I get the feeling that He expects us to do just that. Worship Him in Spirit and in truth, and you’re going to make Him smile.

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