Definition of a Doorkeeper, Pt. 1

*Note- I know I haven't posted in a while, but we're back. This part one of an article by one of our Doorkeeper Instructors, Tammy Bailey. Hope you enjoy it.

Jeff


Doorkeeper. Hmmmmm, what is a doorkeeper anyway?

As I pondered the daunting task of writing my first article I began to think about just what a doorkeeper is and what his or her specific function might be. Are there daily routines to be kept? Is there a cool outfit that comes with the job that identifies the doorkeeper and therefore garners much wanted attention? Does the doorkeeper have a key? Just what is their job description?

Webster’s identifies a doorkeeper as someone on duty at a door or gate, especially somebody who guards the entrance. The thesaurus offers another look at the word describing additionally a gatekeeper, porter, concierge, caretaker and janitor.

Alright, I understand a little more about what a doorkeeper is, but what about this door that they are keeping. What is it and why are they keeping it? I needed to dig a little deeper.

Being raised in the south and armed only with my bible, a concordance and my somewhat less than sterling upbringing, I decided to look into this doorkeeper job. I mean, I have an idea of what my southern roots would have me believe that my job should be, but I really needed some clarity on the matter. You see, being raised in the south, I have a somewhat skewed view of life. I was not raised in a Christian home by Christian parents who taught Christian values. What I was taught was that there are differences; differences between us and them, black and white, rich and poor. Anyone who was not like us was different. And anyone that was different was to be kept out, kept down and kept away. I was raised in the south of whites only and blacks only and signs on entrances that informed everyone about those differences. There were separate sitting rooms in doctor’s offices, separate hospitals, separate restaurants and still today, separate churches. There were usually doorkeepers in these places just to be sure that everyone stayed in their separate places. Hmmmm. Somehow, I don’t think that is what the scriptures had in mind.

Now, I realize that not everyone was raised in a trailer in the south and y’all probably know exactly what a doorkeeper is. But we are each products of our environment – good or bad. So forgive me if I take things a little slower. I am overcoming my upbringing.
Those of you raised in the north probably know all about doorkeepers. You probably called them the doorman. That is probably a truer picture of what the scriptures were referring to. In front of just about every hotel and high-rise you will find him. You can recognize the doorman by both his uniform and his position. He dutifully stands at his post daily, carrying out his assignment. The closest thing to a doorman I ever knew was when my mom yelled at us to, “either come in or out and quit slamming the door”.


I really want to pull this whole doorkeeper thing together so I decided to go the Old Testament route. After all, the word doorkeeper sounded kind of Old Testament. There I found an entire list of doorkeepers. There was one in particular that stood out to me.
In 1 Chronicles 15 a man named Obed-Edom was assigned the task of being a doorkeeper for the Ark of the Covenant.
Finally, I was getting somewhere! King David upon the return of the Ark of the Covenant had assigned specific tasks for the everyday in and out operation of the church. I found it very interesting that one of the men assigned to be a doorkeeper was
Obed-Edom. What was it about Obed-Edom that qualified him to be a doorkeeper? I read backward for a while and researched some Sunday School lessons I had taught a couple of years ago and things became much clearer…………..

It seems that King David had decided to bring the Ark of the Covenant (the presence of God) back to the City. He had conferred with his officers, commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. He sent word both near and far for the priests and Levites to come. What was amazing to me in reading I Chronicles is that the bible says that no one had even inquired of the Ark (the presence of God) during the entire reign of Saul. No one even knew where it was. How do you misplace something that important? How do you just lose God’s presence and not realize it? Sorry, I digress. That is perhaps another question for another day.

As the story goes, the Ark was in the house of Abinadab. It had been there quite a long time. David sets off to bring the Ark back giving no thought to proper protocol or procedures. That was a disaster just waiting to happen. And it did. In 2 Samuel 6 the Word says that Uzzah, the son of Abinadab, was struck dead for mishandling the presence of God. Now, I am sure that some of you bible scholars out there might have a different reason for the death of Uzzah, but my take on the matter is that Uzzah, having been around the Ark his entire life fell into the same trap that we in the church sometimes find ourselves – treating the extraordinary as ordinary. We take for granted this wonderful gift of God’s presence as if it is something that we are entitled to and more often than not, something that we can control. It seems that we sometimes find ourselves being door controllers rather than doorkeepers.

Through a set of circumstances that were beyond his control, the presence of God ended up in the house of Obed-Edom. King David’s plan to bring the presence of God back to the Israelites had taken a detour. A lot of times we think that God’s presence has taken a detour in our lives, but God always has a plan. He just wants to bless someone else on the way.
Anyway the Ark of the Covenant - the physical representation of God’s presence on this earth had ended up in the home of Obed –Edom. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time. It seems that King David, a little shaken up at the death of Uzzah said, “Whoa, wait a minute, this thing is dangerous. I don’t think we’re ready for this. We can’t go one step further until we know what we’re doing. We need to put this thing down for a while. We need to be better prepared. But where can we take it? Does anyone know where the closest AAA Storage facility is located?“

Obed-Edom was probably just a bystander that day. We don’t know a lot about him. He had probably just come to town to see the parade. I mean they were making quite a hoopla and all. Anyway he said,” you can take it to my house, Mamma-nem won’t mind, we’ve got plenty of room.” So that’s what they did.

The presence of God ended up in the house of Obed-Edom where it remained for three months. Now Obed-Edom probably wasn’t well known. He didn’t hold office. He probably wasn’t the wealthiest man in the land. Maybe he was just a simple farmer. You might have seen him interviewed on TV just after the tornado went through. He was just an ordinary man with extraordinary blessing potential. What if he hadn’t been there that day? What if he hadn’t offered his house? Obed-Edom offered his home to house the presence of God and God will always go where he is welcome.

Let’s pick up with 2 Sam 6:11 - The ark (God’s presence) remained in the house of
Obed-Edom for three months and the Lord blessed him and his entire household. Vs.12 - Now David was told “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and everything he has because of the ark (presence) of God.

CHANGED……. IN A MOMENT!

By simply allowing the presence of God into his home - his entire life and that of his family was forever changed. For three months the house of Obed-Edom, his family, his children, his servants, his livestock, his crops, etc. blossomed. Everything he put his hand to prospered. He was operating in the presence of God. He was being a doorkeeper and didn’t even realize it. He didn’t have a title. He didn’t have a uniform. He didn’t seem to have any of the things that one would assume a doorkeeper to have…..except for one. He had the key. When we have an attitude of worship and spirit of excellence in everything we do, we live in God’s presence and he blesses us. He shines his favor on us. Our homes are happy, our children are not sick, our finances go further, everything is better…when we worship our lives into his presence.

David knew he had to go and get the ark (presence of God) so that the entire nation could benefit from being near it and that’s exactly what he did.

To Be Continued.