Gen 32:24 (KJV) And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

Finding a place to begin is possibly the toughest task in preaching this message.

Some time ago, I was driving down the highway in Pascagoula, MS. On the side of the highway was a sign in front of a business that read, “What if the Hokey Pokey is really what it is all about?”

This thought began to stir me to the point of stopping and writing it down.

Over a period of time this is what the Lord put within my thought pattern about this subject.

WHAT IS THE HOKEY POKEY?

A man named Larry LaPrise is given credit for one significant thing in his life. He is recognized as the inventor of the dance-step, the Hokey Pokey.

After WW II it seemed that everyone was either whistling or dancing to the Hokey Pokey.

Possibly you heard about his funeral. The undertakers couldn’t keep him in his casket.

While the funeral was taking place they played the Hokey Pokey in the background.

The undertakers would put his right arm in.

In reality, the song predated Mr. LaPrise.

The song actually was based on a worship song, sung by the Shakers of Kentucky.

The Shakers were the exuberant counterparts of the Quakers.

Dancing was part of their worship.

If you consider the words, there are some good teachings in the Hokey Pokey.

The song ends with you putting your whole self in.

If you do anything for God, you will have to put your whole self in, and a little shaking wouldn’t hurt either.

I know dancing doesn’t seem to you to be a part of this scripture.

However, if you know me, I refuse to just take someone else’s word for what the scripture says.

The word WRESTLE is only used a couple of times in scripture.

Wrestle has a root word DUST.

Wrestle means to BEDUST or TO KICK UP DUST.

Could it be that what Jacob viewed as wrestling, God viewed as dancing---just kicking up some dust.

If this is true, then they danced all night long.

In the 149th and 150th Psalms, we find the same commands.

We are commanded to praise God in the dance.

Dancing in English means to leap, skip, hop, and glide, with measured steps, with or without music, with someone or with one’s self.

The movement of animals, fields of flowers, groves of trees, schools of fish, waves, and clouds are all said to be expressions of dancing.

Anything that moves may dance and likely will at some time.

Religions of the world recognize dancing as part of worship.

As early in history as cave drawings of the Stone Age we find depictions of ritualistic dancing.

Islam recognizes a temple dance.

Dancing is found in the Buddhist and Shinto shrines.

Early in American history, the Shakers introduced worship services consisting largely of dancing.

Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:4,”there’s a time to weep, a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.”

However all references to dancing in the Bible have not been positive.

When Israel danced before the golden calf.

Salome dancing before Herod is the other.

So although we encourage dancing there is dancing that does not edify.

The Bible says that God did not vanquish darkness from the world.

He did however, separate the light from the darkness.

There is dancing that is dark dancing or tends toward darkness.

There is dancing that is light dancing or tends toward the light.

Dancing in the night, or

Dancing in the light,

They are as different as night and day.

No child of the light should dance in a sensual or worldly manner.

Your conscience will scream against it.

Your body, the temple of the Holy Ghost will writhe against it.

Your soul will detest the climate and company of such dancing.

GOD DESIRES HIS CHILDREN TO DANCE

Psalm 150:1-6

Maybe you have heard of foot and mouth disease that has killed cattle before.

We sometimes suffer from hand and mouth disease in worship.

We praise God with our mouths.

We sing, we shout, and we testify.

We praise God with our hands.

We clap, we lift hands, and we play instruments.

Yet the feet are missing.

God loves dancing so much that his creation dances continually before him.

The stars dance, it is there nature.

A developed photograph of the stars in a night sky will show the stars whirling in a dance before their creator.

In the scripture, the stars are compared to angels. Job 38:7 Revelation 9:1-2

As Jacob lay down and looked into the heavens at the stars, sleep overtook him, and the stars faded into angels.

He saw them somersaulting, marching, and line dancing from the heavenlies.

The old saying goes,”DANCING IS THE EARTH’S ONLY CHANCE TO GLIMPSE THE ANGELIC HOST.”

Elisha prayed for his servant’s eyes to be opened to see the angels dancing on the horizon.

Before the throne of God are six winged seraphims who encircle him constantly.

God loves dancing.

He loves for his children to dance.

In Song of Solomon 6:11-13 we read an interesting story that I will try to sum up for you.

Solomon’s wife goes outside. She is homesick for the countryside.

The young women call out for her to come back.

She asks why they would want such a country girl to return.

Then she hears the King say,”Because you dance so beautifully.”

David was a man after God’s own heart. Why, maybe it was his dancing.

Galatians 5:17 says,”The flesh lusteth against the spirit…”

The flesh doesn’t want to dance.

The flesh doesn’t want to put the whole self in.

Pride doesn’t want you to dance.

In her book PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, Jane Austen wrote, pride shouts every savage can dance.

Cicero stated worldly wisdom whispers that no sane man will dance.

The French painter Monet said those who dance are thought to be insane by those who cannot hear the music.

My question to you is can you hear the music?

When I hear the music I have to dance.

No one has to strike up a chord.

The music is in my soul.

Can you hear the music?

WHEN I THINK OF HIS GOODNESS, AND ALL HE HAS DONE FOR ME……

YOU DON’T KNOW LIKE I KNOW, WHAT HE’S DONE FOR ME…

CAN’T NO BODY DO ME LIKE JESUS….

LOOK WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE…

If we can ever get this concept our worship, our walk our being, our outlook, and everything that we are will change and be seen from a different light.

Mark Twain said it this way:

Work like we don’t need the money;

Love like we have never been hurt;

And dance like no one but God is watching.

All of us remember the footprints in the sand….

There is another version. This version tells about all the footprints being eradicated by lines and grooves in the sand…

The Lord’s response was,”Don’t you remember? That is when we danced.”

Some people fight their way through life, others choose to dance.

The elder brother of the prodigal, had he danced would have danced his self-righteousness away.

Elisha waited on his ministry plowing. It was while plowing that God found him. He was plowing in ABEL-MEHOLAH, THE FIELD OF DANCING.

He turned his waiting room into a dance floor, and danced long-suffering away.

Miriam became jealous of her brother for writing a new song. Envy threatened to settle upon her. She decided that others can write the songs, but I can dance to them. Soon all the daughters of Zion had joined in and together they had danced the night of jealousy away.

David danced with all his might before the Lord. Some did not like it and laughed and criticized.

David kept dancing, and danced the night of criticism away.

Oh, and Jacob, let’s not forget our text and Jacob.

The night came, and with it came darkness, fear, and gloom. This night Jacob knew something had to change.

God has his complete attention. His trickery and treachery is not going to work this time. His supplanting and scheming are no good now. The night was a reflection of Jacob’s spirit at that moment.

He was heavy, but determined.

When someone grabbed him in the dark, he was ready.

All night long he pulled and tugged with the heavenly being.

Up until this night Jacob had led in the dance of his life.

He had gotten by.

He had survived.

He had even prospered, even if it was shady dealings.

This night was different.

Everything must change.

The hollow of his thigh was touched.

He could not lead anymore.

The heavenly being now led the dance.

Jacob called it wrestling.

Maybe God called it dancing.

Just kicking up dust until Jacob would yield the lead.

When you feel like you are wrestling with God, perhaps, you are really dancing your night away.

Dance with God into the light of a brand new day.