Dancing with the King

We danced last night. This is not unusual except we hadn’t before. We were at a wedding, the reception under the clear country stars and the music familiar. So we gave it a try, laughing at ourselves and remembering our last dance – in junior high school – and definitely not with each other.

After 17 years of marriage, there wasn’t a fear of stepping on each other’s toes. We’ve done that before. There was instead the freedom to remember the eighth grade embarrassments, the girlfriend he’d invited to the dance floor, the boys who hadn’t grown tall enough yet for me.

God created marriage before sin entered the world; it is not an idea flowing from the fall but flowing from the Creator. God’s original plan for union between a man and a woman involved two sinless people. Notice, however, that he did not nullify marriage once sin marred the Garden. Apparently it is possible to pursue a union involving two sinful people. (Whew)

Marriage is the supreme metaphor for the relationship between God and believer. In the Old Testament, idolatry was paralleled with adultery and, in the New Testament, believers are called the bride of Christ.

God makes covenants. He initiates them and he keeps them to a thousand generations. The covenant of marriage is a natural image of our relationship with God. The very idea of two becoming one is mysterious in reference to a man and woman, but even more mysterious when we think about joining our hearts to the Divine.

Marriage between a man and a woman is never perfect. There’s often stepping on toes. But it gives us a veiled image of the divine idea for union with God: one of love, covenant, provision, passion and uniting.

We are privileged to enjoy the metaphor of marriage – that dance with our spouse – and we plumb the image of dancing as bride of our Savior and our Lord. What a waltz!

I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine.

Ezek 16:8