The Tabernacle of David - Silence, or Loud Rejoicing?

PSA 4:4 Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. [5] Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in the LORD.

PSA 46:10] "Cease striving [ KJV Be still ] and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." [11] The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold.

In the last weeks we have presented the principle of being quiet and still before the Lord and listening prayer rather that the continuous “talking kind of prayer”. We all know those people that dominate a conversation and very seldom listen to our ideas and opinions. We feel that they are rude and difficult to fellowship with because their words are all that are important.

If we apply that kind politeness to prayer we could understand that to continually talk before the Lord and not even try to listen for what He would say is rude. If prayer is fellowship with God then silence is courteous.

The question we are presenting in this paper is this; Is always being silent the only way to fellowship with God and to present yourself to God? The answer is a definite NO! In this application there is a great difference between praise, thanksgiving, worship, rejoicing before the Lord and acknowledging Who He Is and reverent prayer. These are two different realms and each holds a very important place. Balance is the key word.

It may be possible to always sing, rejoice before the Lord and praise with loud music and dancing and never correct your life in accordance with God’s word. It is possible to not even know that your life needs radical adjustment. It is those silent times of quiet prayer that we realize there are defects and barriers in our life that are preventing us from advancing into God. It is as we intently listen for the still small voice of God that we are actually seeking God for Himself and not just for what we can get from Him.

If we simply listed ALL the scriptures dealing with loud praise and worship with exuberant rejoicing before the Lord we would discover there are multiplied more scriptures dealing with loud worship than being still and silent before the Lord.

ISA 62:1 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem's sake I will not keep quiet, Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, And her salvation like a torch that is burning. [2] And the nations will see your righteousness, And all kings your glory; And you will be called by a new name, Which the mouth of the LORD will designate.

We are admonished to not keep silent and remain quiet until the church is all that she is meant to be. Therefore, we should understand that always being silent before the Lord will not continue forever. My understanding is that this time of quiet listening and silent prayer is for the purpose of personal sanctification, cleansing and a time for the discipline of the Lord to correct offensive things in our lives. When there are no more things in our lives ( for the time being) that God has a controversy with, our “kinds of prayer” should resume. However, in every prayer time there should be a quiet time of listening so that God has an opportunity to speak and correct us and direct us in new areas of prayer.

EPH 6:18 With all [ kinds of ]prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, [19] and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,

For example; The incense that was to continually raise up before God day and night was made of four different elements and was to be a perfumers mixture of precise proportions. It should be obvious that silence in prayer will not accomplish these goals.

But what about the scriptures that insist upon loud praising, worship, dancing, thanksgiving, music, rejoicing and loud noise with multiple instruments? Are these still valid today? The answer of course is certainly! Then how do we balance this admonition for all kinds of prayer with loud rejoicing?

Before the Ark of the Covenant and the manifest Presence of God was established upon Mt. Zion the priests and people were to sanctify themselves. After their “sanctification” and the proper order was determined the Ark was brought up. This is our goal for our assembly. To prepare a place and then invite the manifest Presence and Glory of God to dwell here. Not in a building but in His sanctified people.

The question that always plagues us is which comes first the exuberant praise or do we wait on the manifested Presence first. I’m not sure there is a definite answer. When God’s manifest Presence comes we can’t help praising and worshiping. On the other hand without exuberant worship and praise the Presence of God has no place to dwell. God dwells in the praises of His people. Without praise there is no dwelling place for God prepared. David FIRST prepared the place for the Ark and then went down to bring it up.

1CHRON 15:16 Then David spoke to the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their relatives the singers, with instruments of music, harps, lyres, loud-sounding cymbals, to raise sounds of joy.

1CHRON 15:25 So it was David, with the elders of Israel and the captains over thousands, who went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-edom with joy. [26] And it came about because God was helping the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

To understand “this new move of God” we should not ignore the preparation that preceded it because it was begun “according to the word of the Lord”. If God restores the Tabernacle of David as it was in the days of old it certainly means with loud praise and worship and rejoicing with all kinds of instruments and SACRIFICES. To ignore the sacrifices is NOT to restore it as in the days of old.

The true sacrifice and the true worship is essential to bringing back the Presence and Glory of God to DWELL in His people. There is a tremendous difference between the visitation of God and the dwelling of God where God manifested Presence remains after the hype is gone.

Worship that is mechanical and according to the “letter” that we have devised as “normal” is not worship at all. Worship must begin in the heart and must rise up out of a revelation of Who He is. We could say true worship must be up out of the spirit and flow out of reality or “truth”. Worship in spirit and in truth is quickly acknowledged by the Father.

The true “sacrifice” is still according to the revelation given to David. PSA 51:16] For Thou dost not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; Thou art not pleased with burnt offering. [17] The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.

The time of silent prayer and quiet meditation upon the righteousness of God and His holiness results in a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart. To worship in spirit and truth requires that our spirit becomes active and that God reveals truth to us. To always pray out of the soul does not activate the spirit of man to worship. Unless God deals with man and his sin and weaknesses, man will not worship in truth because his life is still too much a lie.


	The Tabernacle of David and Silence? Or Loud Rejoicing? PSA 4:4 Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. [5] Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in the LORD. PSA 46:10] "Cease striving [ KJV Be still ] and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." [11] The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold. In the last weeks we have presented the principle of being quiet and still before the Lord and listening prayer rather that the continuous “talking kind of prayer”. We all know those people that dominate a conversation and very seldom listen to our ideas and opinions. We feel that they are rude and difficult to fellowship with because their words are all that are important. If we apply that kind politeness to prayer we could understand that to continually talk before the Lord and not even try to listen for what He would say is rude. If prayer is fellowship with God then silence is courteous. The question we are presenting in this paper is this; Is always being silent the only way to fellowship with God and to present yourself to God? The answer is a definite NO! In this application there is a great difference between praise, thanksgiving, worship, rejoicing before the Lord and acknowledging Who He Is and reverent prayer. These are two different realms and each holds a very important place. Balance is the key word. It may be possible to always sing, rejoice before the Lord and praise with loud music and dancing and never correct your life in accordance with God’s word. It is possible to not even know that your life needs radical adjustment. It is those silent times of quiet prayer that we realize there are defects and barriers in our life that are preventing us from advancing into God. It is as we intently listen for the still small voice of God that we are actually seeking God for Himself and not just for what we can get from Him. If we simply listed ALL the scriptures dealing with loud praise and worship with exuberant rejoicing before the Lord we would discover there are multiplied more scriptures dealing with loud worship than being still and silent before the Lord. ISA 62:1 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem's sake I will not keep quiet, Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, And her salvation like a torch that is burning. [2] And the nations will see your righteousness, And all kings your glory; And you will be called by a new name, Which the mouth of the LORD will designate. We are admonished to not keep silent and remain quiet until the church is all that she is meant to be. Therefore, we should understand that always being silent before the Lord will not continue forever. My understanding is that this time of quiet listening and silent prayer is for the purpose of personal sanctification, cleansing and a time for the discipline of the Lord to correct offensive things in our lives. When there are no more things in our lives ( for the time being) that God has a controversy with, our “kinds of prayer” should resume. However, in every prayer time there should be a quiet time of listening so that God has an opportunity to speak and correct us and direct us in new areas of prayer. EPH 6:18 With all [ kinds of ]prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, [19] and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, For example; The incense that was to continually raise up before God day and night was made of four different elements and was to be a perfumers mixture of precise proportions. It should be obvious that silence in prayer will not accomplish these goals. But what about the scriptures that insist upon loud praising, worship, dancing, thanksgiving, music, rejoicing and loud noise with multiple instruments? Are these still valid today? The answer of course is certainly! Then how do we balance this admonition for all kinds of prayer with loud rejoicing? Before the Ark of the Covenant and the manifest Presence of God was established upon Mt. Zion the priests and people were to sanctify themselves. After their “sanctification” and the proper order was determined the Ark was brought up. This is our goal for our assembly. To prepare a place and then invite the manifest Presence and Glory of God to dwell here. Not in a building but in His sanctified people. The question that always plagues us is which comes first the exuberant praise or do we wait on the manifested Presence first. I’m not sure there is a definite answer. When God’s manifest Presence comes we can’t help praising and worshiping. On the other hand without exuberant worship and praise the Presence of God has no place to dwell. God dwells in the praises of His people. Without praise there is no dwelling place for God prepared. David FIRST prepared the place for the Ark and then went down to bring it up. 1CHRON 15:16 Then David spoke to the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their relatives the singers, with instruments of music, harps, lyres, loud-sounding cymbals, to raise sounds of joy. 1CHRON 15:25 So it was David, with the elders of Israel and the captains over thousands, who went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-edom with joy. [26] And it came about because God was helping the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. To understand “this new move of God” we should not ignore the preparation that preceded it because it was begun “according to the word of the Lord”. If God restores the Tabernacle of David as it was in the days of old it certainly means with loud praise and worship and rejoicing with all kinds of instruments and SACRIFICES. To ignore the sacrifices is NOT to restore it as in the days of old. The true sacrifice and the true worship is essential to bringing back the Presence and Glory of God to DWELL in His people. There is a tremendous difference between the visitation of God and the dwelling of God where God manifested Presence remains after the hype is gone. Worship that is mechanical and according to the “letter” that we have devised as “normal” is not worship at all. Worship must begin in the heart and must rise up out of a revelation of Who He is. We could say true worship must be up out of the spirit and flow out of reality or “truth”. Worship in spirit and in truth is quickly acknowledged by the Father. The true “sacrifice” is still according to the revelation given to David. PSA 51:16] For Thou dost not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; Thou art not pleased with burnt offering. [17] The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. The time of silent prayer and quiet meditation upon the righteousness of God and His holiness results in a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart. To worship in spirit and truth requires that our spirit becomes active and that God reveals truth to us. To always pray out of the soul does not activate the spirit of man to worship. Unless God deals with man and his sin and weaknesses, man will not worship in truth because his life is still too much a lie. Worship means to express in some measure what you know and what you feel out of the depths of your being. We can’t truly worship Him whom we don’t know!