When you read the full story in 2 Samuel 6, you learn only the facts that precede David's dance in the street when the ark of God is brought into the city of David.
There were 30,000 choice men gathered to bring in that which was called by the Name, the very name of the LORD of hosts, enthroned above the cherubim.
The ark had been placed on a new cart, with two men leading it out from their father's house. There were instruments playing, and thirty thousand men were heard celebrating.
Everyone within ear-shot knew the significance of the event...God was coming!
And then a man reached toward the Name, and the scene changed.
Anger. Irreverence. Death.
The celebration had quickly turned to mourning, and a king was stifled with fear.
For three months, the ark would lay still in Obed-edom's house, and for three months a king would sit with questions and doubt, because what else can you do when God stops the celebration? What do you do when God seems to change from a gracious, loving, merciful God, to a God of anger, destruction, and death?
If I didn't know the rest of God's story, or the stories that come before this one, I might wonder about this God. I mean, killing a man for grabbing hold of a cart that was carrying a box that called His glory out to His people? And irreverence? Just reading the words in these verses makes you wonder what was really going on in Uzzah's heart for him to come to such a tragic demise. There has to be something I'm not seeing, right?
But here's the part we don't need to miss: David didn't know any more than we know about this story. There are no verses tucked inside this chapter that tell us an angel is sent from God to explain all of this to him. No, I think he saw what God did to Uzzah as an outburst of God's anger (just as verse 8 says), and that's all he would know. Period.
But I love that David still chose to dance.
He definitely had a new-found fear of this God who would strike for a touch...but he danced (and verse 14 says he did it with all his might, even with the vocal shame of a wife who misunderstood and despised him for doing it).
He offered sacrifices for sin and reconciliation with a God he might not always understand, but One he knew he needed to worship.
Michal rebuked him for uncovering himself in the eyes of his servants' maids, but David let her know that the uncovering was only for One, and for Him, he would be even more lightly esteemed and humbled.
Because David chose to dance, even when he didn't understand God's ways.
He dis-robed before the One Who owned his fear, his reverence, and his celebration, even when he didn't have all the answers to his questions.
He chose humility.
He chose the Name above his own.
He chose the dance.
Reach for the music today. Celebrate. And dance.
