Dancing in the garden

The setting was the beautiful garden, christened prayer garden by the campus fellowships and love garden by every other person. I got into the school to realise that the different corners of the garden had been possessed by the different fellowships for prayers and other meetings. The event was the matriculation ceremony for the new students of one of the great universities in Nigeria. It’s always a great day for the families, as they proudly celebrate their own. I even remember seeing some grandparents in attendance that year.

One reason that the older students look forward to this day is the abundance of food. There is always more than enough to eat and drink. They wish they could turn to ruminants and store up the food for the proverbial rainy day.

On this day, loud music by the different fellowships filled the air. To be frank, the cocktail of the different music almost combined to produce a ‘wonderful’ cacophony. Spontaneous dances accompanied all the music. Sweat drops were flowing freely. There was nothing downbeat about the mood that day. It was just like what we experience during praise and worship sessions in our churches, only it was with higher intensity this time.

As I watched the event play out in the garden, it reminded me of what happened in 1 Sam 4: 5 – 11. The battle line was drawn between the Israelites and the Philistines. There was a great shout of worship in the camp of the Israelites, announcing the arrival of the Ark of the Lord. This was meant to signal unopposed victory for Israel. However, the Lord was not honoured in the shout and the Ark was soon taken by the Philistines. Why?

I may not have all the answers about the kind of worship that really honours God. However, one common denominator is that the worship must be from the heart of the worshipper  The song must be from beyond the lips. It’s not really about the great voice and the scintillating dance moves. Worship mustn’t even be in a song. It’s more about clean hands, pure heart and working righteousness. In a nutshell, you have to be acceptable to God before your worship can be acceptable to Him. Think on these!