“And David danced before the LORD with all his might.” (2 Samuel 6:14)
What caused David, a man after God’s own heart, to burst out in exuberant praise before the Lord?
When you read the story carefully, you realize that David was experiencing two things: the awesome holiness of God, and the demonstration of God’s commitment to save and dwell intimately with His people.
So how do we break out of cold, affectionless, self-absorbed religion into a vibrant life of sacrificial praise?
By waking up to God’s holiness and His heart for His people–his heart for us.
If God’s not holy, then His approval, His goodness, and His desire for intimate relationship with us doesn’t really mean anything. It’s nice, but it isn’t going to change your life. The lack of spiritual life that plagues much of the attractional church comes from forgetting God’s holiness. If the Philistines, Uzzah, and the people of Beth-Shemesh hadn’t died because of the presence of God, do you really think David would broke out dancing before the LORD when the presence returned?
But if God is holy and He doesn’t have a heart for us, we’re dead. There are many people in the church today who love to talk about God’s holiness and are severely lacking in spiritual life for this very reason. They don’t dance because they’re too scared to dance. They don’t believe that God is drawing near except to scrutinize, shame, and condemn. They don’t dance because they don’t understand the cross.
Holiness. Heart for us. We can’t live without either. Neither can live in our minds unless we hold fastly to the other. The spring of spiritual life is in the grasp of these two things: God is dreadfully holy, and He is deeply in love with His people.
Andrew Micah 