Worship in Holy Abandon

1 Chronicles 15:1-29
    1 David built houses for himself in the City of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched a tent for it. 2 Then David said, "No one may carry the ark of God but the Levites, for the LORD has chosen them to carry the ark of God and to minister before Him forever." 3 And David gathered all Israel together at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD to its place, which he had prepared for it. 4 Then David assembled the children of Aaron and the Levites: 5 of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and one hundred and twenty of his brethren; 6 of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, and two hundred and twenty of his brethren; 7 of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, and one hundred and thirty of his brethren; 8 of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, and two hundred of his brethren; 9 of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, and eighty of his brethren; 10 of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, and one hundred and twelve of his brethren.
    11 And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites: for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. 12 He said to them, "You are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites; sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, that you may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it. 13 For because you did not do it the first time, the LORD our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him about the proper order."
    14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel. 15 And the children of the Levites bore the ark of God on their shoulders, by its poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the LORD.
    16 Then David spoke to the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers accompanied by instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals, by raising the voice with resounding joy. 17 So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of their brethren, the sons of Merari, Ethan the son of Kushaiah; 18 and with them their brethren of the second rank: Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Elipheleh, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, the gatekeepers; 19 the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were to sound the cymbals of bronze; 20 Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with strings according to Alamoth; 21 Mattithiah, Elipheleh, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, to direct with harps on the Sheminith; 22 Chenaniah, leader of the Levites, was instructor in charge of the music, because he was skillful; 23 Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark; 24 Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, were to blow the trumpets before the ark of God; and Obed-Edom and Jehiah, doorkeepers for the ark.
    25 So David, the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-Edom with joy. 26 And so it was, when God helped the Levites who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that they offered seven bulls and seven rams. 27 David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who bore the ark, the singers, and Chenaniah the music master with the singers. David also wore a linen ephod. 28 Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the horn, with trumpets and with cymbals, making music with stringed instruments and harps.
    29 And it happened, as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the City of David, that Michal, Saul's daughter, looked through a window and saw King David whirling and playing music; and she despised him in her heart.

Now the Ark is finally brought back to Jerusalem by king David.   He prepared the way to bring it, being careful to observe God’s requirements of command as to how it had to be done to honor Him and avoid another Uzza incident.  Only those designated by the LORD, the Levites, could carry it by the poles made by Moses for its transport, and David prepared a tent to house the Ark as the tabernacle in the wilderness, for his son Solomon had not yet built the permanent temple.  With the place prepared and orders given, he assembled all the people of Israel to escort it home and share in the joyful return of God’s presence where He met with the high priest for atonement of the sins of His chosen children.  The priests were briefed and sanctified themselves, setting themselves apart for the work in holiness according to the prescribed rituals, and with a reminder of what happened the last time when things were not done in God’s order.  They had a great celebration as they carried the ark back in procession, playing music on trumpets and harps with singers singing and David dancing while playing music himself with the others.  However, his wife Michal who was Saul’s daughter given to him as one who loved David (1 Samuel 18:20) and who was given to another by Saul after marrying David already (1 Samuel 25:44).  She now saw the joy in her husband praising God and despised him in jealousy (2 Samuel 6:21-22) for what she made into flaunting himself half-dressed before other women in public.  David was humbly undignified and honored by those he was accused of drawing attention from.  In 2 Samuel 6:21-23 we see the result of her jealousy and failure to worship in joy with her husband led her to be unfruitful for the rest of her life.  What we learn then is that worship of the Lord must be according to His word and not our assumptions and reasoning with manmade rules, and that He takes His holiness and ours very seriously (consider Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11).  We don’t align to traditions of men for how we worship, but from our hearts in spirit and in truth according to the principles and examples He wrote down for us in the scriptures.  Our joy in lovingly serving and worshiping Him should not be judged by others in the body of Christ if it does not disagree with that word, and not judged by outward appearances of our own church culture which does not align with God’s word.  In this context of worship we bring the Ark of God’s atonement and reconciliation in the gospel of Jesus Christ into our places of public worship as we exalt Him in the beauty of holiness (1 Chronicles 16:29, Psalm 29:2-3, 96:8-10) in holy abandon.