There is this passage in 2 Samuel 6:14 where King David is bringing the Ark of the Covenant back home. This got me thinking- what is worship?
Back in the garden of Eden, the original place for humanity, the place where we were created to live, grow, expand from in perfection, this place of awe which God made just for his perfect creation, the first of all Adam and Eve were “naked and unashamed” (Genesis 2:25). The Hebrew word here for naked is AROWM, and it means what it says- Naked. Nude. A complete lack of clothes. We see that this is good. We know this to be good. For those of us who are married, we know that one of the most intimate times we have had in our marriages started back on our honeymoon, on that very first night where we stood next to each other as we were meant to be. This is who I am; who we are.
As we pick up and read here in 2 Samuel 6:14, “David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might”. That phrase there wearing a linen ephod is a phrase that can be translated in Hebrew CHAGAR BAD. Hebraic history and literary tradition tells us that this phrase means more than wearing some strip of clothing. It has come to be known as naked. Ancient rabbis would teach their talmid (students), that as David danced before the Lord, not only was he considered naked, he was bathed; no, clothed in worship.
Make the connection with me here- NAKED: Adam and Eve, David and the LORD. Generations separate these ancient ancestors from one another, yet one thing remains- they stood before one another as they were created to be: Adam with his wife Eve, and David with his LORD. There is no greater spirit of worship than when you are in the place where God created you to be.
So why Clothing Optional*? In so many ways we have strayed off the path of perfection, off the way of life God intended for us to live. In the same way Adam and Eve stood in worship, naked and unashamed before the Lord, and in the same way David danced before the Lord, we must reconnect with what it means to be clothed in worship. To come to Him who is greater than us with all we are, as we are, unashamed, reckless.
The challenge for us today is to shed our clothes, to become stripped bare, and dance wildly before the Lord. Live your life as you were created to live. This is worship. This is perfection. This is life as it was meant to be lived. Clothing Optional*.