Giving joy to the Lord

Love in action
Psalm 68 jubilates that the lord takes joy in israël. the lord calls himself father of israël. the lord loves israël, the chosen, built from abraham, his friend, a righteous person and a prophet. abraham loves the lord, which shows from the way in which he freed lot and brought peace back to the land. abraham refused to take the booty, received recognition from melchizedek and payed his tithes (gen. 14, 18-20). until this very day israël knows that the lord takes care of his land and people and that his love for israël is everlasting. one more example: when little henry suddenly wakes up in the middle of the night by the cracking thunder and lightning, little henry calls his daddy. daddy takes little henry in his arms, kisses him and says: “everything is all right, darling. daddy is here with you.”

At war
II Chronicles 20, 1-30. enemies are attacking israël! king jehoshaphat was alarmed, consulted the lord and declared a day of fasting. all of judah, women and children included, gathered and jehoshaphat said a prayer in the courtyard of the temple for all citizens of judah and jerusalem to hear. the spirit of g’d came in the middle of the gathering upon jachaziel, a levite, who then spoke profetic words. all who were present fell down in worship, honoured and praised g’d with a loud and joyful voice.

Jehoshaphat set out with his army to meet the enemy, encouraging his army saying: trust in the lord and you will be upheld. trust in his prophets and you will be successful.

Celebrating singers dancing in the frontline
Jehoshaphat appointed people to go in front of the army. these singers were dressed in holy festive garments. radiant, dancing with a shout of joy they sang triumphantly: give thanks to the lord, for his love endures forever.

A defender and deliverer is the holy one of Israel
While the singers were jubilating, the lord defeated the enemy! the army together with the singers accompanied by musicians, returned to the temple singing, dancing and happy because the lord had made them triumph over their enemies. the women and girls from judah joined the round dance while they were singing. the kingdoms were trembling with fear as they heard that g’d had beaten the enemies!

Giving joy to God
A child says: “my father can do everything”. that is what abraham, jehoshaphat, women and young girls said at the time when the enemies were attacking them. to trust in  the lord’s power gives g’d pleasure!  the hebrew words of 2 chronicles 20 contain an important message: 

1. beracha is to seek G-d's face first -  down on your knees - and blessing him
2. jadah is to confess your sins with fasting, offering praise with raised hands
3. hallal is to praise g’d with heart, soul and all of your strength during singing and dancing
4. tehilah is to sing and at the same time taking a stand by exulting in the holy one of israel 

Psalm 68, 36: acknowledge the power of g’d, his majesty reigns over israel. you arew awesome, o g’d, in your sanctuary. the g’d of israel gives power, new strength indeed, to his people israel, praised be g’d.

Dance to share
The song ‘yakum elohim’ (‘arise elohim’ in hebrew) (hoej’dot 222 or zimrat haarets 74) was composed by zipporah bennett. the song comes from psalm 68, 2, 4-5. to this beautiful song i choose a joyful dance that can be danced as a group but is also useful as a round dance or a line dance. the dance was developed by Vera Vhierico. vera travels the world giving dance workshops. she has been coordinator of the messianic dance network since 1995. 

Clapping dance
speed         fast abbreviations:

rhythm       2/4 or 4/4 sbs side by side

formation   cirlce or line nhh nhh   no holding hands

direction     all fwd forward

bwd   backward

Counts part a
Raise both arms up in front of a lunge fwd

1 – 4 run fwd 4 steps – starting on right foot

5,6 lunge fwd with right foot – step ots with left foot

7,8 lunge bwd with right foot – step ots with left foot

repeat part a

Counts part b
For rock movement – hands are raised to shoulder level and rotated outwards

or waist level palms down

1 – 4 yemenite to the r  

5 – 8 yemenite to the l

1 – 4 step fwd with right foot – hop on right foot

step fwd with left foot – hop on left foot

5 – 8 rock sws, ots (r – l – r – l)

Verbal cueing

Counts part a

1 – 4 run – 2 – 3 – 4 

5 – 8 forward – and – back – and 

1 – 4 run – 2 – 3 – 4 

5 – 8 forward – and – back – and 

Counts part b

1 – 4 right – behind – front – hop

5 – 8 left – behind – front – hop

1 – 4 right – hop – left – hop

5 – 8 rock – 2 – 3 – 4