“As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. Any when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.”
I once told a joke in crowed room. The time seemed perfect to take center stage and rattle off something that was funny. With all the bravado I could muster, I got the attention of everyone who was in the room. After all the eyes were upon me, I let it rip. The best joke for the moment, or I thought it was. The joke just dead panned like I was Debby Downer and the room got super silent. All eyes were on me while I became more embarrassed with every second. My buddy leaned over and said, “Have you ever said something you thought was funny and it wasn’t?” With that, everyone laughed. In my family, when you tell a dead pan joke you simply raise your hand. Yep, that was me telling that joke that no one laughed at.
Michal was the daughter of Saul and David’s first wife. David was finally bringing the ark of Lord back to the city and he was leaping and dancing before the ark and before the Lord. Now to keep things in perspective, the ark of the Lord stayed in someone’s house the whole time that Saul was king. In other words, the Lord was not being honored at all and Michal was living in the palace with Saul the whole time David was on the run. Now David was still married to Michal, but this is were things go south for them.
David, having brought the ark back from the house of Obed-Edom, was praising the Lord in front of all the people not dressed or adorned in any kingly garb. He was just David praising the Lord. The same Lord that had been at his side since he was a boy in the fields tending sheep. Michal thought this display was beneath the king and despised him because of this display. By now, it is clear that Michal did not have a close relation with the Lord and David did. After he comes back to his house, Michal confronts him about the whole issue in verse 20. In verse 22 David responds, “I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”
In today’s world, with all the easily offended people, cultural and political issues, it is easy to slip into the mode of Michal; just fit in wherever and do not make a scene. David’s devotion to the Lord was his first priority not his last resort. Michal was watching David from the palace window. Meaning while everyone was observing David, she was just behind the scenes not making waves and growing ever so bitter.
Life comes at you fast and sometimes you have to act out of instinct. David’s instinct was to praise the Lord in spite of who was watching. David did not seek the approval of the people or his own palace-dwelling wife. He simply put it all before the Lord that day.
Are you putting it all before the Lord or are you the one watching from a high window growing more bitter with every day that passes? Today, make the choice to follow the Lord in spite of your embarrassment of your friends or even your own family. Make a commitment to pray, believe, and read His Word. Jesus was a stumbling block to those who rejected him but he became the chief cornerstone to those who would believe. Believe in Christ because without Him, your house of beliefs will lack a solid cornerstone and foundation. Psalm 46 is a great prayer about the Lord being our refuge.
Prayer: Father, we can often put you in a back seat in our lives. We do this when our faith is put on trial among our friends or family. Not wanting to offend anyone, we cower in fear of rejection putting our friends approval over yours Lord. I pray today that we would have the boldness of David as he danced before the Lord that day as the ark entered Jerusalem. I pray that we stand firm and defend our faith when the time comes up, not with haughty or argumentative language, but graceful assurance and wisdom. When our family or close friends call us out for being weird, help us respond like David, with assurance that we have been called the almighty God of the Universe. We will not be silent. In Jesus name, amen.
Let It Go 
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