May 30

Psalm 149
Let us rejoice in our Maker. When I study the works of creation, I am astounded, to say the least, concerning the greatness of our Master-Designer. The quantity, quality, complexity and brilliance of all that He has done is staggering to my mind. Revelation 4:11 says, “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.” I like the way the Authorized Version translates it, “And for thy pleasure they are and were created.” He enjoyed creating us! It was thrilling to Him! It was joy for Him to do so! And unbelievably to us, He desires that we be passionate about our joy in Him! Listen to what Col. 1:16 says, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” He receives pleasure in our enjoying Him! It is “for Him” that we are created. When we refuse to delight in the praise of Him, The rest of the obedient creation hangs their head in wonder at our refusal. Satan rejoices.
The children of Zion are commanded to be joyful in their King. It would be easier to approach this passage by saying, “This passage is for the Jews in the land, particularly Zion. Therefore, it does not apply to me.” However, the writer of Hebrews 12:22 (NLT) says, “No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering.” The Living Bible paraphrase says, “. . . and to the gathering of countless happy angels.” We then are spiritual children of Zion. As such we are commanded to be joyful in our King!
His name is to be praised with joy! One of the obvious out-workings of joy is dancing. Dancing means to whirl around in circular movements. When I am gone for a long time, my dogs dance upon my return. They will literally run around in circular movements in expressing their joy at my return. In a very real sense the creation dances to the praise of God! Electrons spin around the nucleus of an atom creating the bonds of physics that hold things together. The planets whirl on their axis and around the sun creating life that brings glory to God. The stars whirl around the centers of their galaxy declaring the glory of God! Is there ever such a thing as a dance of sadness? I think we usually refer to it as a dirge, but a dirge is usually just the music. It tends to lack the expression of physical music.
Unfortunately, Satan loves to corrupt that which should bring glory to God. I was raised in an environment that taught that almost all dancing was evil. Indeed the proponents of such teaching have one good point. They purport that the purpose of dancing is to excite sexual passion between a man and a woman. So, if a man and a woman, who are not in a marriage covenant, dance together for that purpose, then it can only lead to an illegitimate expression of sexual passion. I would guess that more often than not, it is true. It is interesting that in Exodus 32:19 when Israel became physical idolaters and spiritual adulteresses with the golden calf, and when Moses came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, that Moses’ anger became hot! Israel was to be in a covenant relationship with Yahweh, not a golden calf (probably much like one of the gods of Egypt). She gave what should have been reserved for Yahweh to an idol. Dancing should have been a whirling in celebration of love for Yahweh. In contrast it became a whirling about in celebration of a golden calf.
So is it wrong for a husband and wife to participate together in dance? No it is not because sexual passion was invented by our Creator as a good thing that was to reflect His image. Within the godhead there is this infinite passion between the Father, the Son and the Spirit. That passion led to the creation. The creation in return dances for joy in the presence of the Creator. Indeed, it could be argued that between a married couple, a dance is a good thing, for that dance could create a passion that strengthens the bond between them and produces offspring as well.
But dancing wasn’t the only method of expressing joy in praise toward Yahweh. The timbrel and harp were also called upon for the expression of joy. In the worship wars of today, so many people focus on the style of music and the instruments of music as to what is godly and what is not. It seems to me that they are missing the point. The point is not what style of music but what condition of the heart. From this Psalm it would seem that the Lord wants His praise to be joyful (2&5), humble (4), vocal (6a) and Scriptural (6b). The question for each culture is what instruments can help us best as a group express joy, in humility according to Scripture. That will vary from culture to culture and even with subgroups within those cultures. But one thing is clear from this Psalm, that praise is to be joyous no matter how it is expressed! How dare we approach praise in any other manner! I like Isaac Watts poem that Robert Lowry set to music.

Come, we that love the Lord,
And let our joys be known;
Join in a song with sweet accord,
And thus surround the throne.

We’re marching to Zion,
Beautiful, beautiful Zion;
We’re marching upward to Zion,
The beautiful city of God.

The sorrows of the mind
Be banished from the place;
Religion never was designed
To make our pleasures less.

Let those refuse to sing,
Who never knew our God;
But children of the heav’nly King
May speak their joys abroad.

The men of grace have found
Glory begun below;
Celestial fruits on earthly ground
From faith and hope may grow.

The hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heav’nly fields,
Or walk the golden streets.

Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry;
We’re marching through Immanuel’s ground
To fairer worlds on high
--Verses by Isaac Watts and Refrain by Robert Lowry
Can we declare His praise in any manner other than joyously? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john