Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 6:12-23
“Now 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 whirling before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.”—2 Samuel 6:16
Have you ever witnessed someone in exuberant praise and asked, or heard someone ask, “Does it take all that!?” Or perhaps it has been you who was in high praise and someone offered, “It doesn’t take all that to praise the Lord!” In either case, the point is one that perhaps David’s wife, Michal, raised in her mind when David brought the ark into Jerusalem.
David had finally succeeded in bringing the ark of the LORD to the Israelite capital and center of worship, Jerusalem. The event was met with sacrifice, music, dance, and celebration. David was in the midst of the celebration and “danced before the LORD with all his might.” It was there, seeing David leaping and whirling, that Michal came to despise David.
Scripture does not recount Michal despising David for taking the throne after her father, Saul, was killed in battle. Nor does it say anything of her loathing David for taking her from her previous husband (2 Samuel 3:14-16). She is not recorded as holding him in disdain for having other wives and having children from those women. But the act of exuberant worship of God caused Michal to despise her husband. Perhaps Michal felt the king should have carried himself with the decorum appropriate for his position.
Apparently Michal had forgotten David’s past: A shepherd boy selected and anointed king over his seven older brothers. Youthful champion over the gigantic Goliath, without benefit of formal soldierly training or equipment. Victor over Israel’s enemies in various conflicts without loss of life or limb. Survivor of Saul’s relentless pursuits and efforts to kill him. Crowned king over a unified nation and the one to bring the ark into the nation’s capital. It is easy to see why David forgot to be dignified in his worship. God had brought him through too much to be dignified!
When God has granted us grace, favor and blessings; brought us through trials and adversity; bestowed protection upon us and our loved ones in the midst of a world of violence, natural disasters, and random disease; it is our right, even our duty, to offer exuberant praise to God. Abundant blessings merit abundant praise. Michal could only focus on critiquing David because she had taken time away from being in praise and worship herself. That same truth applies to us. We cannot find time to critique the worship of others unless we are not focused on worship ourselves. We cannot fathom the need for exuberant praise when we take God’s grace, favor, and blessings for granted. David did not take that all for granted. Even if it meant being undignified.
Lesson to Remember: You can’t critique someone else’s praise if you are in the midst of praise.
“So David said to Michal, ‘It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord. And I will be even more undignified than this…’”—2 Samuel 6:21-22
