Psalm 150 is one of my all-time favorite Psalms!

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
     praise Him in His mighty heavens!
Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
     praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
Praise Him with the trumpet sound;
     praise Him with lute and harp!
Praise Him with tambourine and dance;
     praise Him with strings and pipe!
Praise Him with sounding cymbals;
     praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let EVERYTHING that has BREATH praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!

According to Strong’s Concordance, praise hālal H1984 means to be clamorously foolish, to rave, to boast, to celebrate, to give glory to. When I read this, I cannot help but think about King David returning the Ark of the Covenant, the representation of the very presence of God, back to Jerusalem.

In 2 Samuel 6:1-2, David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim. Vs. 5 And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. Take a moment and imagine the sound that thirty thousand-plus people were making as they marched. Now, imagine them shouting, singing, playing lyres, harps, castanets, cymbals, and tambourines…I mean have you ever heard of a quiet tambourine or cymbal?! This was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a quiet procession! My guess is, you could hear them coming from miles away!

Imagine you are living in the city of David, you hear a celebration and wonder what is going on and you look out your window to see King David dancing with all his might before the Ark, dancing with all his might before the presence of God! Would you stop washing dishes, grab the kids, and head outside to join the celebration of Jehovah? I like to think I would be right in the middle of it!

The people were having a party! It was loud and boastful, and it was a celebration giving glory and honor to Jehovah, God! The representation of the very presence of God was back among the people! They were celebrating their Healer, their Rock, their Strong Tower, and their Deliverer! How could anyone help but worship?

Everyone was having a great time, except for Michal. She looked out her window and had nothing but contempt for David. Michal felt David had made himself look like a vulgar, shameless fellow instead of the mighty king that he was. She was so concerned with how things looked that she missed the entire point, the Ark of the Covenant, the representation of the presence of God, was back and there was great reason to rejoice. Because of her contempt, Michal missed the whole celebration and she missed the whole point. But don’t we do the same thing?

Psalm 150 speaks of trumpets, lutes, harps, tambourines, strings, pipes, and even LOUD clashing cymbals being played in the sanctuary, and yet we go into our places of worship, the place that represents the presence of God and we slip in quietly almost like we’re afraid we’re going to disturb God.

Here’s something to think about, the Israelites were celebrating and they had to stay in the outer courts and could not even go into the Holy of Holies. They couldn’t come close to the Presence of God because of sin. But when Christ died on the cross, the veil that kept the “ordinary” people out of the Holy of Holies, was torn in two and we gained access to the very Presence of God! Is that not something to rejoice about?!

I know what He brought me out of and how He redeemed me. I know how He protected me and how He went to the enemy’s camp and said, “This one’s debt has been paid and she belongs to Me!” So! As for me, I will worship God, my Redeemer, Healer, Rock, and Strong Tower with my entire being. I will clap my hands like cymbals, my shout will be like a trumpet blast, and oh yes, I will dance before the King the Kings because I know what the blood Jesus did for me.