Dancing for God with all of our might

July 12, 2009
“Dancing for God with all of our might”
2 Samuel 6:1-19
Ephesians 1:3-14
Year B
6th Sunday after Pentecost


The story of David
This summer, we have been following the life of David. We have learned about his anointing as the King. And now we learn more about his life. What is it that makes him so special. Why is it that the people love him so much, that they follow him. We learn about his personal life. His first wife is Saul’s daughter Michal. They grew up together, and eventually got married.

The Story of Michal
In the story, David is the hero. But Michal is depicted as a bitter woman. She didn’t seem to understand David. And may have mourned her father’s role as the first king of Isreal. She scolds david in this story – and later it says that she never had kids because she could not accept David as the king of Isreal.
But I think Michal is getting a bad wrap- as many women in the bible usually do.
Imagine this – you have been sitting home all day cleaning house and waiting for your husband to come home after a long day at work. You hear a commotion outside, and you look out the curtain of the front window to see what is going on. You see your husband dancing – You notice that there is nothing under his outgarment – so his private parts are showing as he is dancing all over the place. If that is not bad enough – you notice that three young girls are standing on the corner - with their eyes glued to his groin area. All of these young girls are from your neighborhood – you have known them all since they were born, and today they are all staring at your husband’s private parts. When he finally comes in the house – what do you say to him? How was your day? Or why were you dancing like that in front of all of the neighborhood? Given the circumstance, that would seem like a very likely question. Not a sign of bitterness at all.
Some even say that Michal was actually a very wise woman, concerned about what others would think of her husband and protective of his reputation.
We will never know – because the story depicts her otherwise.

David’s point – dancing with all of your might
The story is not about Michal, but about David. More importantly about David’s faith, and the point of the story is that David was willing to worship God with all of his might.

David was not the best of persons, did some pretty bad things.
The bible is a very vulnerable story about David. It doesn’t depict him in a very good light. David did some pretty bad things. And the bible even admits that he did not pay as much attention to his family as he should have. Not only did he not listen to Michal, he never seemed to care about his wives, and he let his children do whatever they wanted. With no discipline.

This was a political story – he claimed the kinghood, not only over the past, but also the future.
There is also the fair accusation that the only thing David really cared about was becoming King. Marrying Saul’s daughter in the first place could have been a political move. He united Israel and Judah, and established Jerusalem as his capital. He did not want anyone to question him – or his ancestors behind them.

But he loved God – he devoted his life to God both the good and the bad.
But the one thing the Bible wants to make clear – David was not the best of persons – but he loved God. He worshipped God and he devoted his life to God. He was not the best of persons – but he bought God with him wherever he went.

The center of the story is not David, but the presence of God – the ark of convenant.
As a matter of fact, the center of this story is not Michal of David, it is the presence of God in the Ark of Covenent. The isrealites took the ark with them in every battle. It helped them to win.

What was in the ark of convanent?
The ark was a wooden box with angels on top of it. It was believed to have to tablets of the ten commandements inside, along with a lot of others things, which contained the power of God. Today there is a legend that the ark is in South Africa. A group of people who say there were descendents of the keepers of the ark, took it there and they keep it inside of a church – no one is allowed to come near them inside of the church so there is no way to verify if it is really the ark.

The presence of God represented both promise and danger - Uzzah was killed for touching the Ark, but Obed prospered.
The point is that the ark is thought to be very powerful presence. On the one hand, Uzzah was killed just for touching the ark to save it from falling. David asked another family to keep the ark for safekeeping. David noticed that for three months Obed and his family did very well while keeping the ark. One the one hand the presence of God is dangerous to handle, something to be feared, and yet on the other hand God is wonderful and someone to depend on. God is promise and danger – isn’t that a lot like our thought s on God. Someone to fear, yet someone to depend on?

David had reached a point in his life when he realized that he could not serve without God – He realized that he needed God in his life.
Weighing both sides of God – promise ad danger, David realized that he could not go forward as King, without the blessing of God. There was no way he could serve the people – without God’s presence.

We all have to reach the point in our lives – when we see that God’s power never serves us and our person power and plans – We come to understand that our power and our plansis to to serve God and God’s purpose.

Ephesians speaks to that point

Ephesians is a Lots of words – but basically it makes three points: God adopts us; God redeems us; God unites us

We are given a purpose in life – to praise God

We should Praise God in everything

Dancing on the chips
A friend of mine tells a story of a day in her life. She had had a long week at work, and she was having friends over for the weekend. Of course on Saturday morning, she had a lot that needed to be done before her friends arrived. She went to the bank – and the teller made a mistake. She went to the store and realized that she had forgot half of what was on her list. She had 45 minutes to fix lunch for her friends. She thought of soup – but realized she had forgot milk. She thought of leftover bake beans only to see they had been in the refrigerator too long and had molded. She thought she would have potato chips and hot dogs. She went to open the bag of potato chips that she had just bought. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t open them, when she got them opened them, she did not realize that she opened the wrong side. All of the potato chips fell on the ground. That was the last straw. She started to scream and cry. Her husband immediately came in to see what was wrong. She expected that he would at least help her clean them up. Instead he laughed at her, and then started to dance on the chips – grinding them into her floor. All she could do was laugh – laugh at herself, laugh at the situation. She had expected her husband to clean up her mess and make it all better, instead, he have her the moment of gladness that broke her mood and helped her to take her day in stride and keep on going forward.

How many times in life does God do that for us. We are waiting for God to come in an clean things up and make things better, and instead God comes into our lives and dances. Giving us a moment to stop and to think about the important things in life, and to realize that messes come and go, but we have to take it all into perspective. And just dance along with the situation. And with God.


Our purpose is not only to be aware of the presence, but to also respond to it – to dance to the rhythm of life.

Life flows, life comes and goes, there are ups and downs. Seasons of life

Question to you – what dance do you do? Foxtrot, the moon walk Just dance Where is your ark of convenant – the presence of God to keep you centered? What is God’s purpose for your life?

Lee Ann Womacks song – I hope you dance is one of my favorite songs – because it reminds us to dance like full out, without no regard for who is watching or what they think, no matter what.
She says….I hope you never lose your sense of wonder You get your fill to eat But always keep that hunger May you never take one single breath for granted God forbid love ever leave you empty handed I hope you still feel small When you stand by the ocean Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance I hope you dance I hope you dance

Live, love, serve, cry, pray with all of your might.