“David was dancing with all his might before the Lord wearing a linen ephod.”
2 Samuel 6:14
---Pretty much David was dancing in public like a raver on Molly in his underwear, but without the rave or the drugs. Just David being so pumped and honored about God to the point that he can't help but express his joy through a victory dance that makes him forget the fact that such quick and pulsating movements will cause his clothes to fall off. Forgetting certain facts about ones actions is equivalent to not caring. David did not care about his image or how people were looking at him or thinking things about his actions, because all David knew in that moment was how good it was to have God's presence with him when the ark of the covenant came rolling in. People were most likely staring at him just like we all would be staring with cameras and helicopters if president Obama starting rave dancing in his underwear at 2pm in the middle of time square.---
“When David returned home to bless his household, Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him.
“How the king of Israel honored himself today! ” she said.
“He exposed himself today in the sight of the slave girls of his subjects like a vulgar person would expose himself.”
Michal was embarrassed because David was her husband and this made her look bad. Her husband was acting like a fool and it would mean she would look like a fool's wife. But notice carefully how she says her words to self justify her hidden intentions. She says that he exposed himself indecently in front of the slave girls like a crude person which isn't exactly a lie so much as it is a half truth. It's true, he did expose himself, but God and everyone who saw him dancing knew that his intentions were all about praising God and nothing to do with wanting the admiration or ogling eyes from a bunch of slave girls. David could have done a million other things to get the attention of women- he's the king after all- but dancing like a madman in his underwear in the middle of the streets was highly not one of them. It's clear that what bothered Michal was not jealousy that slave girls might be lusting after David or that David's reputation was on the line, but in fact it was the exact opposite- she was bothered that they wouldn't be lusting after him because he looked so ridiculous. In other words, she wouldn't be envied by everyone for being the wife of the King, instead she felt embarrassed that because of his humiliating act for God she would get nothing. She desired to be put together and envied by people, and David was ruining that. David just wanted to give God glory so none of that mattered to him. Whether his reputation or hers would be ruined did not matter, all that mattered was the heart in him that wanted to praise God. His goal was one. His heart was after God, not anyone else's, not even his own or Michal's.---
David replied to Michal, “I was dancing before the Lord who chose me over your father and his whole family to appoint me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel. I will celebrate before the Lord, and I will humble myself even more and humiliate myself. I will be honored by the slave girls you spoke about.”
---Unlike Saul, Michal's father, who was always concerned about what others thought of him and his reputation and image--David was not. David danced so wildly that his clothes started falling off--it's just like a girl dancing until drool and sweat cover her face and armpits. It's not sexy, it's real. David's worship to God was real. Saul was fake even though he may have succeeded in appearing put together and "holy" in front of everyone around him, that only proved more that he cared about what others thought of him than about what God meant to him. Even if Saul's heart was truly in love with God (though we know it was not) there would be no evidence to prove it because he continually tried hard to maintain esteem and approval from the eyes of others. Saul wanted to appear looking good and admired by people, but David humbled himself to the point of humiliating himself in front of everyone. David's humiliation was proof of his not caring about the approval from others- that's usually what happens when one is humiliated.---
And Saul’s daughter Michal had no child to the day of her death.”
2 Samuel 6:20-23
---God is God and He controls everything ultimately. Meaning, God closed up the one honor that Michal could have at that time, which was the honor that came with bearing children (especially to be an heir to the throne), and her self-absorption and self-admiration and self-honor would die when she did. On the other hand, David would eventually give birth to a son who would carry on the line that led to Jesus, the Son of God, the King forever in the line of David! That's the highest honor....to be honored as being an ancestor to God not only at one time on earth, but into eternity. When we give our lives to praise God and honor Him, we not only do what our existence was meant for but we gain the approval of God forever! We enter into the real holy place and sit as a member of the family of God, a seat of highest honor forever.---
Who do you really seek to honor today?
If you're like Michal giving into half truths to try and justify your self-absorption, then repent and ask God to change your heart and to help you let go of wanting the glory from others.
I would say to be like David, but one cannot will oneself to dance without fear of losing approval of men as David did because when it happens it happens freely and you sort of forget what you look like. When it happens it feels like an honor not humiliation, until someone points out that it looked humiliating. Does what you do today for the glory of God feel like an honor that to others looks humiliating? Trust me, even though you won't know it's embarrassing, someone else will. And that's when we hear their words and praise God for allowing us to have a moment of pure worship to God. Welcome those words because they are proof that you see God as worthy of all honor.
Jmegrey
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