The Diaper Dance

After rounding up and bathing my three offspring last night, we all four settled down for our nightly story time.  I read from a children’s bible that the kids like because it has full color pictures of what Israel looks like today as well as the typical colored illustrations showing a single frame action from the story in the text.

Last night took us to the life of David (my oldest son likes the story of David chopping off Goliaths head) and we reached the page which depicted David entering Jerusalem as King with the Ark of the Covenant, in parade fashion, while dancing in his underwear.  In the distance you can see David’s wife Michal with a scowl on her face as she takes in the view of her honorable husband acting like a nineteen year old frat boy running through the streets of campus half naked. 

“Why is he in his underwear?  What happened to his clothes?” my daughter asked. 

I explained to her that David had taken off his robes when he entered Jerusalem and danced in front of the Ark because he was so happy that God had been faithful to His word.  Despite the fact that David had been anointed King by Samuel just three pages earlier, it had been a long time coming.  David was overwhelmed by the faithfulness of God and so he celebrated by taking off his robes and dancing around for joy so that everyone would know that it was God that made David King and given him the victory over his enemies. 

It was at this point that my two year old son who was just wearing a diaper picked up on the word dance and stood up on the bed and began to groove to music in his head.  The rest of us began cracking up as he showed off his moves with a giant smile on his face.  We began to sing this song so he would have a rhythm to follow as he got jiggy with it right there on the bed in front of us:

I will dance, I will sing,

to be mad for my King,

Nothing Lord, is hindering,

This passion in my soul!

And I’ll become even more undignified than this,

Some would say it’s foolishness,

But I’ll become even more undignified than this,

Leave my pride by my side!

La, La, La, La Hey!

This went on for about five minutes and by the end all three children were down to their underwear and dancing before God.  I laughed so hard I couldn’t sing with them anymore!

After I had gotten them to settle down and tucked them in, I couldn’t help thinking about what it must have been like for David to have waited on God’s promise all those years.  I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for him on the darkest nights when he was running for his life with nothing but the clothes on his back.  How many times had doubt crept into his mind.

All this made me think about the scripture I had been reading lately (I read from an adult bible without pictures) and how it connected to my sons little diaper dance.

Hebrews says it like this:

Heb 11:6
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
NIV

Faith, at it’s very essence is believing that God does exist.  We have to really believe that He is present, not just up in the clouds watching from a distance, but actually in our lives, in our holy places and unholy places.  He goes before us when we walk into a worship gathering and when we walk into a bar.  Secondly, we must believe that God will reward us when we seek Him.  We have to believe that he will watch over us and supply our need, even if we give a large portion of our income to the needy.  We have to believe that it is worth it to give up the things he has called us to give up in order to gain a better future with him.  This is true faith.  This is being a Christian, and anything less is not pleasing to God.

Learn to do the diaper dance, and you will find fulfillment in your faith!