2 Chronicles 20:18

“Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord.” And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.”

For those of you unfamiliar with the story of King Jehoshaphat’s prayer, he basically asked God to deliver His people out of an imminent defeat and God responded by telling the nation of Judah to “stand firm, hold your position,” for God was on their side and that meant it was God’s battle to fight. Read the 20th chapter some time to get the whole story.

The part of the story that interests me the most are the two drastically contrasting postures of worship the differnet people groups chose. It makes sense for the inhabitants of Judah to follow the example of their King. It would even make sense for everyone else to do the same out traditional of respect and honor, but the Levites did not. In fact, they chose the complete opposite repsonse and were probably a distraction for those laying prostrate on the ground. However, as far as we can tell from scripture, they were so moved by the spiri, they were completely unconcerned what others were doing around them.

You don’t see that kind of thing much any more. If you go to a church where people like to lay prostrate and worship in whispers, pretty much everyone lays prostrate and whispers. If you go to a church where everyone shouts and jumps around, pretty much everyone is shouting and jumping around. When was the last time you were somewhere God’s presence was so prevalent shouting and whispers went hand in hand or laying down and dancing did not get in the way of each other? What would it take to make every week in church so inviting and free that the grumpy old man with his arms crossed was just as moved by the  Holy Spirit as the lady down front with the tambourine?