God’s fool

March 7, 2007

By Jerry Scott

King David was delighted to bring the treasured ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. The gold chest had been the symbolic place of God’s presence among the people of Israel for centuries. The ark was sometimes revered, sometimes feared, sometimes abused.

Now, David had dedicated a place in his royal city for the ark. It was a way of inviting God himself to be at home there. David was ecstatic. As the procession entered the city with songs and music, the king abandoned all formality. He danced and leaped in the streets, leaving off his outer royal robes. The Bible reports on his action with this simple summary: “David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might” (2 Samuel 6:14, NIV).

David’s wife Michal watched the king dancing in honor of God and felt it was a display no dignified monarch should allow in public. When David came home, she said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!” (2 Samuel 6:20).

David was not naked! He had laid aside his royal robes and put on the plain shirt of a priest. But Michal found it a distasteful, disgraceful performance. I like the way the New Living Translation records David’s reply. It shows his heart for God — “I was dancing before the Lord, who chose me above your father and his family! He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the Lord. So I am willing to act like a fool in order to show my joy in the Lord.” (2 Samuel 6:21, NLT)

“I am willing to act like a fool to show my joy in the Lord!”

That phrase challenges me. Am I willing to love and serve God in a way that invites the ridicule of others? What matters more to me — to be “respected” by my friends or to be devoted to my God?

Tragically, this story is often used as an excuse for self-indulgent “worship.” When somebody wants to just “do their thing” in a church service, creating a display that is distracting to others, they quote this passage as justification for their actions. What an awful trivialization of a great lesson. The account goes to a much deeper issue! It is about a life that is lived in worshipful abandon for God’s glory.

I know of a very talented couple who have moved to the deep jungle of New Guinea with their children. They live primitively, traveling by boat to the village where they have already spent six years and where they plan to spend another 14 years. They endure loneliness and have experienced life-threatening disease. For what? To learn the language and culture of the tribal people so they can communicate the gospel of Christ! They have yet to make a convert, but they consider their sacrifice as no great thing in the service of the God they love!

Many would label this family as fools. Would you? But their lives are a “dance in honor of their God.”

There are two ways to live — seeking the best of life here and now, or seeking God’s honor as we keep our eyes on eternity. Those goals seldom lie along the same path. One is lived for Self, oriented around creating a comfortable life, accumulating things and avoiding suffering. The other is lived for God, focused on eternity.

May the story of David challenge us to dance with abandon, to forget ourselves in our passionate pursuit of God! When friends and family question our “foolish” choices, we can respond, “I was dancing before the Lord!”

Jerry D. Scott is senior pastor of Washington (N.J.) Assembly of God.