The Right Praise Break!

If you come out of an African American church with a lot of shouting and praise breaking, you may be able to re-call a time when you were lost control of yourself and went running around the church like a mad man. I remember running around a church parking lot dancing and praising God (supposedly) after service with a friend of mine, as the praise dance music played from my car. Or the time when I jumped over a lady at Victory Ministries in Baltimore, trying to get my praise on. I had no clue whether this mess was biblical, even when I used the text above to validate what I was doing was of the Spirit of God. Well let me clarify that none of that crazy stuff I did was of God. Why, you may say? Because I violated this one clear text:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Lack of self control! I could blame it on a feeling or say I could not control my dancing because the Spirit was controlling me, but really I was releasing all the things bothering me by making a fool of myself. It was all emotional, and quite frankly that’s what it is for most folks in the black church: EMOTIONALISM. “Hey look at me…..see what I can do…I can dance”, yet it is nothing but a showcase of flesh! It is no different than being in a club dancing and pop locking with your friends. We must be honest with ourselves. Now, I know people that do these things yet they are blood bough believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. So I am not saying you aren’t a Christian if you do these things, yet some of these things are far from Christian.


BUT DAVID DANCED

David sure did dance, David sure did give God the praise. But let’s see was it comparable to some of this mess we see today! The first question to ask the text is why was David dancing? What prompted David to dance in a manner ONE woman (Michal – Saul’s daughter) thought David was making a fool of himself? See here’s where I used this text to justify my foolish behavior, yet I never asked that question. Since Michal thought it was foolish, there’s nothing wrong if man thinks me dancing, running, shouting, and doing the two-step is foolish. Really, is that so? Well again, why was David dancing? What is the context?

The ark
The ark of the Lord was being brought to Zion. This is what prompted David to dance before the LORD.

And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obededom, and all that [pertaineth] unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obededom into the city of David with gladness. And it was [so], that when they that bare the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. And David danced before the LORD with all [his] might; and David [was] girded with a linen ephod. (2 Samuel 6:12-14)

It was told to David that the ark had gone through the house of Obededom, and this house was blessed by the Lord. In Hebrew the transliteration is 'arown which means the holy ark which the two tables of the law were kept or the Ark of the Covenant. Now earlier Uzzah mishandled the Ark, which prompted God’s quick judgment on him (2 Samuel 6:6-11). Verse 9 gives us a clear idea of what David was thinking about this judgment? Verse 8 also reports David’s displeasure and then his fear of the Lord. David did not want anymore judgment happen again. So, upon hearing God had blessed Obededom’s house after 3 months of the Ark being there, meant to David that God’s wrath had eased up from Uzzah’s error.



Now look and see, why is the reason most of us are dancing when the music starts playing? Dan Da, Dan da….and off running we go! But look at David. He feared the judgment of God (cf Psalm 119:120). He was thinking about was the Lord pleased. He sends the Ark to a Levitical house, seeking to please the Lord. Are we thinking such things when the music starts playing? We praise Him because a bill got paid, or the preacher shouted and said “God says give me 2 minutes of your best praise!!!”, not because God judged sin or Christ caused a sinner to repent! Ahhhhhhh, you see it now? In David there was self-control, because he had a reason for worshiping the Lord. His worship was leaping and dancing because of the goodness God had allowed by allowing the Ark to come into Zion. David’s violent dancing was not out of control. Examine his response to Michal in verses 20-22, does that sound like he didn’t know what was going on? (Now, keep in mind as well in v20 the in self control David is coming to bless his household, oh what a Godly attitude he possessed) How is the attitude of the person after they finish praising God supposedly? Are they back to sleeping around, cussing people out, and living their lives chasing after money?

MICHAL’S RESPONSE

When confronting those who do praise breaking, they may attempt to make you feel like you are the Michal. But why did Michal say what she said? Verse 16 indicates Michal saw him leaping and dancing before the Lord, she was not questioning whether the act was Godly (emphasis mine - before the LORD - v16). What she despised him for was his behavior being fit for a king, a soldier, and distinguished man? Should the king be dancing and leaping like that showing himself before his maid servants. Michal is looking only at her husband the king. In verse 15, all of Israel was shouting, meaning David was not the only one praising the Lord (1 Chronicles 15:28-29). Michal was just despising his devotion to God, because it exposed him to others. She was attempting to rebuke her husband for being too devoted to God basically.

We must also take into account other texts to understand Michal’s disposition. Michal loved her husband and may have been was aware of his devotion to Yahweh earlier (1 Samuel 18:28). She helped him escape from Saul killing him, even lying to her father (1 Samuel 19:11-17). But what may have sparked a little anger in Michal, look at 1 Samuel 25:39-44. Could she have been upset and maybe questioned whether David really loved God, even though David reclaimed her as his wife? (2 Samuel 3:13-16) Also, in 1 Samuel 15:22-28, there was not to be a successor from Saul’s lineage throne. Michal was from that line. In 2 Samuel 6, the text never indicates whether God pronounced this curse or that David stopped sleeping with his wife, but we know she had no children. So we can draw where she was coming from with her despising David and his dancing, and not the others in Israel.

Ahh ha, now if someone was to question you about your running around the pulpit, what would you say? “God was moving in me, I couldn’t help it?” “God told me to do it?” “You ain’t gonna tell me how to praise my God!!!” What? Look, what purpose are you praising God for? Because the music is playing and your emotions are getting aroused, or you’re thinking about yourself, what is your purpose? Sometimes we can get caught in the moment, and not realize that we are not praising God really, but just caught up in the emotions.

These praise breaks happening in churches are not even close to what is portrayed here in the scripture. Be careful when using certain texts to validate your mess you call praising God. But for those who out of heartfelt honor to God, want to run around thanking Christ for His saving grace, His deliverance from sin, and granting the gift of repentance, by all means praise the Lord Jesus Christ. Lifting up your hands and praising God is not restricted by His Word (1 Timothy 2:8). But this prideful, “hey look at me stuff….let’s stomp on the devil….God told me give Him 5 minutes of praise”, is not of God. In fact the scriptures say:

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. (James 4:6)

Don’t think I am putting down your praising. Some of us are really praising God out of heartfelt devotion to Him. There’s no music that needs to be played, and sometimes there is, all done out of pure honesty, self control and devotion to Christ. Our Christian conversation exemplifies this. I am referring to those following heretics and in churches filled with emotion and no Christ being sought nor reverenced. Some of these men are knocking people down, or posting clips on YouTube for entertainment purposes. I know some of you genuinely love the Lord Jesus Christ, and want to praise the Lord Jesus Christ. Know why you’re doing what you’re doing for Christ. Now if you are cussing people out or listening to false prosperity doctrine while praising God, your praise has not even reached the ceiling. Repent and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.

True praise and dancing before the Lord can be done. I have seen some brothers hit a two step for God, and lift up there hands and weep before the Lord. But outside of church setting, that same devotion is seen in their living for Christ. They love Christ Jesus and He dwells in them richly.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3:16)