Scripture: 2 Samuel 6:12-19 (NIV)

Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.

We don’t see a lot of dancing in the Star Wars movies. Part of that is that dancing often requires joy and, being that the main plot is a major struggle of good versus evil, there’s not a lot of joy to be had except in certain moments. We see dancers in Jabba’s palace, of course, but they are slaves required to dance for the crime lord’s amusement, which is a different case. 

One of the few times we do see happy dancing is after the Battle of Endor. The second Death Star has been destroyed and the Emperor, it seems, has been killed. The Rebellion has won the day and the Imperial fleet is leaderless and in disarray. So the surviving pilots land and make their way to the Ewok village, where music is played and dancing, whether humans, Ewoks, or other beings, breaks out as the rejoicing begins. (Some of these scenes can’t be seen in the Special Editions, but if you want to see the original version, click here.)

The happiness that everyone has spills out into an almost uncontrollable urge to move. For most people, the joy just gets them moving in ways they may not even realize. In a different setting, they might not be caught dead being so unfettered and undignified. Here, though, there just wasn’t any way to hold back.

David had had problems moving the Ark of the Covenant. He hadn’t followed the procedures outlined by God and a man had died because of it. After a time, though, he corrected his mistake and went down to get the Ark. He was so happy that he was walking in the path of God and doing what God wanted that he couldn’t help but to have sacrifices and to dance in front of the procession. It wasn’t dignified. It wasn’t kingly. It was an expression of heartfelt joy to the One who had blessed him so greatly.

Many of us–and by us, I am most definitely including myself–are not dancers. We also may not be overly expressive of any emotion. Even when we are joyful we aren’t “making fools of ourselves” about it. We don’t let the joy fully out.

Perhaps we should do more of that. Perhaps we should be dancing when we think about the fact that we are a child of God. Perhaps we should sing even when there is no music because we need to praise the One that has saved us. He’s not going to think we are silly for expressing our love and praise in that manner. He loves to see us rejoicing in all manner of ways. So if you feel the urge to dance to honor your Savior, don’t hold back!