Let’s dance! (Psalm 149)

 

Psalm 149:3 Let them praise his name in festive dance, make music with tambourine and lyre. 

God is our creator. We must acknowledge that. He gave us the breath we breathe. We must praise him for that. And what is the easiest way to praise? Sing, make music, dance! It is so easy to get caught up in our own self, that we might feel embarrassed to be caught singing or dancing for God. Have you ever been to a religious event and seen them praising God with dance? People out in the aisles dancing, and you thought “I would never do that!” A good question is why not. God loves it when we let go of our restraints, and be free with our heart and soul in praise. 

I may have spoken on this before, but when I was in high school, our church group would attend a convention called Steubenville South. The original Steubenville was up north, ours was in Alexandria, Louisiana. It was a large gathering of different Catholic groups, and we praised God in song for a large part of the event. There were also learning and group classes during the convention. But we praised his name. And it felt so wonderful to sing in a large convention room with thousands of other people. The sound we made just sent shivers in your soul. When we left, we were all on cloud 9, feeling on top of the world. I remember someone saying when we returned, as we were all still singing and praising, welcome back to the real world. And I remember feeling so sad in an instant because yes, in our “real world” we don’t sing and praise like that. Even in our church, group of students would sing the hymns together loudly, but the rest of the congregation didn’t really participate. And the cloud 9 feeling eventually wore off. 

I am reminded of this feeling when I am in the car with my kids, and we are listening to the radio (we listen to KLove) and a song they know the words too comes on, they ask to put the radio louder, and we all sing loudly. We should always want to praise his name loudly with song, music and dance, regardless of what other think. Maybe our joy will spread and be catching. Goodness knows people’s gloominess certainly does. 

Let us be glad in our maker.