A Time To Dance
Ecclesiastes 3:4 …A time to dance.
Definition: Dance: 1. to move one's feet or body, or both, rhythmically in a pattern of steps, especially to the accompaniment of music. 2. to leap, skip, etc., as from excitement or emotion; move nimbly or quickly: 3. to bob up and down:
We just got done with "a time to mourn”, and now there is a time to dance. I think this is one of those verses many seem to skip over. Dancing is not something we like to do, especially in front of others. Wait, let’s rephrase that. Dancing for the Lord is not something we like to do, especially in front of others. In everyday life we will find ourselves moving happily when things are going our way. Jumping up and down when we are happy. I am going to focus on two points.
1. Dancing for when we are happy. We find instances in the Bible of people dancing when great things have happened.
1 Samuel 18:6 When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres.
1 Samuel 18:7 As they danced, they sang: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.
As stated above this is the easy way of dancing and we can all easily relate to and react to the joy of great things happening. We should be joyed and act accordingly to show our joy when things happen that please us. Even when we are cheering for our favorite sports team, according to the definition we are dancing. We are overly excited and we physically show it by dancing, whether it be jumping up and down, swaying back and forth, etc… this is where I am talking about being able to do in front of others, and we do it openly and without any embarrassment.
2. Dancing for the Lord. But do we do this with things that God has done? This is the one I think most of us may struggle with. Sure, in most churches we will clap and maybe s sway a little to the music that is being played and that is great. We should be doing that. But have you seen the Southern Baptist and many Pentecostal churches and they way they dance. Often time we would say, well that is a little extreme. Is it? Do you now the story of when David was bringing back the Ark of the Covenant, and how he danced bring back the presence of the Lord.
2nd Samuel 6:14-15 (14) And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. (15) So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.
Interesting how the Bible says David danced with all his might, shouting and loud trumpets. Hmmm makes you think, why do we not get as excited to be in God’s presence, but will ridicule and hate or make fun of others, because we do not think what others do is right. Others also despised the way David was.
2nd Samuel 6:16 And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.
When you go on and read more in the chapter, she was upset that David had uncovered himself in the presence of handmaids and servants while dancing. She found it very inappropriate. He was not fully naked, but it was still enough for her to find it unacceptable in her eyes. We do the exact same thing when we see others worshiping God in what we might find extreme. We would also say that that is not appropriate. We need to be excited about the Lord!
Psalm 44:8 In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever.
Let’s finish with these last few verses. Whether we act like David or how we root for our favorite team, or just a quick clap or whatever, we need to show more excitement for God. And maybe not be to judgmental to others on how they show their gratitude and dance for the lord. He has done great things. He has forgiven us when we should not be forgiven.
Psalm 149:3 Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp.
Psalm 150:4 praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe,
Psalm 30:11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
COMMENTS
[ posted by Cindy, 06/11/2024 09:27 AM ]
Here we go with the opposite of mourning: rejoicing or a great excitement, which can be exhibited thru dancing.Mike gave a great examples of joyful dancing, giving praise when Saul and David were successful in battle, and when David was returning with the Ark of the Covenant. We don't find dancing in the OT anywhere that I am aware of going in in the synagogue or temples during worship. We have good dancing as described above in situations of great joy and happiness. We also have dancing going on for bad reasons. In Exodus 32, when Moses went to Mt Sinai, Aaron decided to use the gold jewelry, etc from everyone and melted it down and had a golden calf they decided to worship. They ate, drank and danced and made a ruckus about their new idol. In Matthew and Mark the story about the daughter of Herodius dancing for Herod apparently was so "exciting" to him he wanted to please her by giving her anything she wanted....and what did she ask for? The head of John the Baptist. Was that dancing for good? It must have been a pretty sensual dance to sway King Herod like that! Of course, if you continue to read he does regret offering her "anything." But he kept his word. So I am inclined to think a moment of lust took hold of him to do that. There are still some churches today that forbid dancing. In the church or outside of it, in their personal lives. Take a look at the music videos of today's music genres. What do most represent? A lot of sexual-ness, scantily dressed women, sexual enticement or acts, promoting lust, violence, criminal behavior, etc. We have to know that is not representative of godliness at all! Dancing can be used as a way for showing freedom, creativity, beauty, emotion and joyful celebration and praise. Dancing can also be used in sinful ways. There is no condemnation of dancing in the Bible, but there is condemnation of a wicked heart. And if a wicked heart is used thru dancing, then it is indeed a sin before God. Mike also has a good point about how sometimes we think "that person looks crazy" acting all happy and dancing and praising God in the church or publicly. What if they really are that happy about God and His goodness and mercy and grace for their life? Just because someone else's outward expressive is more extreme that ours...God knows what's in the heart and mind and spirit. We don't all have to express our emotions for God the same way. But, why aren't we that excited? God is good. All the time. And I think we fail on a daily basis to rejoice for all we do have, for it is only allowed for the grace of God and His goodness. That's definitely worth a joyous hop, skip or dance!