2 Samuel 6:20-23

²⁰ When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”
²¹ David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. ²² I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.” ²³ And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

On Friday I had a wildly prophetic day.  My good friend Ryan visited me at my work which usually results in some wild things occurring in the spirit around us.

Yesterday I sensed that the Lord wanted me to hand Ryan one of my mantles – my mantle for government.  I saw this mantle actually like a sword.  I told him that God was going to bring him to one of the gates of our country and it was his job to ensure that righteousness arose in that place by the Holy Spirit working through him.

In the middle of a busy government food court Ryan gets down on his knees and says to me “I cannot accept this mantle without humbling myself.”  This food court had hundreds of people walking about and we were seated in the highest traffic location.

I felt that people were not looking at him as much as they were looking at me.  I was humbled by his act but I was ok with it.

All of sudden Ryan decides that he needs to humble himself further and he lies down in the middle of the food court, face down with his arms outstretched like Christ on the floor.

I was now wrecked inside.  I thought to myself this man has shown greater humility than I have ever shown in my life.  He didn’t just stay there a few seconds.  He was down there for more than a minute.  Twenty, thirty or forty people saw him do it.  They looked to me to see if he was alright.  I ensured them that he was.

Two guys sitting right next to me I knew from working with them.  These guys know me as the “Economist.”  There is much dignity in such a title and honor, but in this moment I sensed great fear as my dignity was being unraveled.

I could not do the same as Ryan and humble myself in such a way.  At least that is what I thought.

I had a meeting that afternoon.  I told a couple of my friends what had happened.  One of them is a wild Christ walker as well.  When she heard the story she wanted to go down and do the same.

I went down for a diet coke at 3pm.  I showed her the spot where the act had taken place.  She jumps down on the floor with traffic passing by and does a cross position on the floor.  I think my God everyone is gone crazy.

The truth was I was wrestling with the flesh.  In my heart I knew I had to humble myself in this way.  God was screaming it to me but he was saying something good would follow.

I was sitting and we were talking and then I knelt down on the floor to pray and then I sat back in the chair.  There was a TV monitor over our seat.  When I looked up I saw a phrase that began with “Don’t Fear.”  I knew it was a God word.  I didn’t know why God wanted me to do this but I sensed that he wanted me to.

I got down on my knees and then lay down on that floor thinking that at least the cafeteria was not as busy as lunch time, and besides I was lying with my face to the floor and no one would recognize me anyway.

When I got up and sat back in my chair my friend said to me “Do you know who saw you doing that?”  She told me that the head doctor for our department was watching as I humbled myself before the Lord.  It was the head doctor of our organization who sat in on one of my presentations and admired my work immensely, the same doctor who liked talking to me about my work.

I thought well at least he didn’t see my face so we then headed upstairs to go back to our office, but who should meet me and look me in the eyes but the head doctor of our organization.  What was interesting is that I could see in his eyes fear.

I got to my computer and turned it on.  I checked my facebook news feed and the first line that rolled through was by Kris Vallotton from Bethel in Redding, California.  He quoted Joseph Garlington as saying, “Sometimes you have to lose your dignity to get your deliverance!”  And then he follows it up with this “Ask the blind man who Jesus used spit to heal his eyes.”

The bottom line is sometimes God asks us to do crazy things in order to be set free.  He sets us free to give us more.  I don’t know exactly why God had me lose my dignity in front of my colleagues and directors, but I can assure you of this I felt an immediate freedom inside when I did it.  I felt alive in a way I never felt before.  I feel like the fear of man has left me in a new way.

He whom the Son sets free is free indeed.

By the way I am not telling you to do the same.  Rather listen to God and do as he asks even if what he says seems strange.