Dancing Before the LORD

Psalm 149

Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and hHis praise in the congregation of saints.

² Let Israel rejoice in Him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

³ Let them praise His name in the dance: let them sing praises unto Him with the timbrel and harp.

⁴ For the Lord taketh pleasure in His people: He will beautify the meek with salvation.

⁵ Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.

⁶ Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand;

⁷ To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;

⁸ To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;

⁹ To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all His saints. Praise ye the Lord.!

This verse caught my attention because–dancing? Really? How would that go over in some of our churches, where any bodily movement is not encouraged?

So I did a little research. The main objection to the idea of dancing before the Lord is its connection with the idea that dance of any sort is an activity that does NOT honor God. And many of those form do not, in any way, honor Him. In biblical times, idol worship was often connected with lewdness, including sexually explicit dancing.

But that’s not what God is talking about here.

I watched a video in which young girls, modestly clothed, used timbrels, dancing gracefully and joyously with their arms raised in praise to God. This is a timbrel: It helps keep the rhythm of the steps, and adds some jingle to the sound.

So am I advocating adding dance to the church service? No, not really. I’ve lived nearly 77 years without seeing dancing in church, and I’m not sure this old grey grandma could adapt to such a change. But I also am not condemning those who may use appropriate dance in their services.

The key here is that the dance is to enhance worship, not to replace it. Maybe if I were younger and my back wasn’t so hinky, I would enjoy dancing and swaying in my private times of prayer and worship. Not a thing wrong with that.

When we were younger and more limber, Terry and I would occasionally try dancing to music we both enjoy, but his rhythm is kind of weird and we could never get it right 🙂

Dance, like many other activities, is not inherently evil. It CAN be evil, but dancing before the Lord certainly does not fall into that category. And I don’t see anywhere in scripture where dance was a performance. It is, rather, an expression of joy and thanksgiving to God.