Are you dancing? September 30, 2008

Psalms 30:11-12 (NIV)

11 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.

Psalms 30:11-12 (NLT)

11 You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
12 that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!

This morning while in my quiet time, I was drawn to Proverbs and Psalms. Although that is not where I am currently reading I felt led to go there. After I finished my normal study I decided to go to the 30th chapter of each book and maybe get a glimpse of what the Lord wanted to show me there. Here I have listed a very familiar verse (probably due to a familiar song) but really stopped and meditated on this verse.

I went and started looking up “sackcloth” which is what they used in the NIV. It is not the image I had thought of. I thought of a grain sack. But it is a mourning cloth. But wait.. It is also used as an outward sign of repentence. So in applying that the question is…Where are you?

I have to admit that I sometimes have too low a view of God. It is so easy for us to put him on our level as just some really “good” one of us but that is not who God is. He is God! He is Sovereign over all things! He is Everywhere and knows Everything (as we have been learning in school bible time)! He is King of Kings- the king above all other Kings! Lord of Lords- Lord above all other Lords. Emmanuel-HE IS WITH US!

If you know that God, not the Santa Claus God of “cultural Christianity” but the God of ALL, how can you continue to walk around in your sackcloth. A couple of days ago I posted on the boredom of church goers. Clothed in sackcloth. A hum-drum meandering through life with no real Joy or LOVE of Christ.

Why I wonder did God want me to read that verse today.. Why did it stand out? I think we all need a reminder every now and then of true repentence and letting go. Repentance is taking off that sackcloth and the freedom from mourning. The JOY of the Lord. Seeing the Christ as he is and not as who I want him to be.. It is a NEW PERSON.. Do I walk around in my daily life in the freedom of dancing or do I walk in sackcloth?

Honestly, the latter. Too many times, I allow circumstances and not Christ determine my actions and attitude. The morning routine goes like this.. I fall out of bed, with the kids already at my side fighting and quarreling. I get them breakfast while I try to read my bible and after about 25 interruptions I close it and move on. I head up stairs (having lost the ability to shower with the kids up) and dress for the day…. At this moment, I am mourning the day that could have been. I am already frustrated and not in a good place. I pull on my sackcloth and hit the ground running… I am edgy and snappy, irritable and anxious, grouchy and greedy, impatient and unloving.

How quickly do we forget what Christ has done for us.. Why do we still own sackcloth! It is part of the old us. My choices, my laziness in the above scenario led to each circumstance that later place me in bondage to my emotions. We have got to each and every single morning MEDITATE on the VAST GREATNESS of God. A true remembrance of whence we have come! Only in looking on him in the true light can we view our own circumstances through him. And then and only then will we truly be FREE to DANCE!

I feel like I am all over the place in this post but I really felt I needed to share this. I hope that God can use this for you today.