Let's Dance!

praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, (Psalm 150:4 – NIV)

David, Israel’s second king, had one interest which I hardly understood until last night. His music interest has had no problem with me but his dancing interest had brought up some questions inside my head. I wondered about the reasons why he would dance so crazily (as Michal, Saul’s daughter thought) when the ark of the Lord came into the city of David.

“I don’t do dancing” has always been my answer if somebody asks me to join a dancing activity or even cheerleading. Basically I have always thought that my body is not flexible enough (I could not even touch my toes easily) –when I was small, I didn’t go to any dancing classes unlike other friends. Moreover, I used to think that it’s too girly for me –I was tomboy.

As I was growing up, I began to think that dancing is quite cool, why not trying then? I also thought that if I could learn other things like music and sports easily, why shouldn’t I give dancing a try too? So, I started watching dancing videos, asking some friends to teach me some moves, and of course try it myself. As a conclusion for my learning to dance process, I found that dancing is tough.
I am a person who always gets excited for God in every Sunday services. I am also a type of person who doesn’t like to stay calm while praising God but prefer clapping, jumping and shouting. I would also dance, but I have no idea of how to. Sometimes, I wondered why we should rejoice and dance for God. Many verses in the Bible say that we have to sing praises for his goodness and mercy and kindness and faithfulness and love for us. There are also many ways to express our gratefulness to the Lord. Praying, singing hymn, jumping for God, shouting his name, making music, and dancing are some ways.

So, back to David, why did he dance that way? My simple reasons are:
- It’s an expression of his gratefulness
- It’s an offering to God, a symbol of praise
- It’s transforming himself, loosening himself, feeling freedom

In other words, dancing is an act of freedom, joyfulness, victory, and gratefulness while offering everything one possesses to praise, glorify and exalt the Almighty. While on the other hand, transforming inner being to be more open and casual and flexible instead of captured in formality, rules, and pride.

So, in order to sum up this long discussion of mine, I thought, the message is short: dance and be free. God loves his children to be free in his freedom.