SDfAoWOP: David and Michal

Day Twenty-three

2 Samuel 6:16

As the ark of The Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before The Lord, and she despised him in her heart.

Like a man reborn, a man given back so much that was lost, so many years of running for his life, years of trusting God in the murky and confusing present for an impossible promised future, David makes merry. He praises God as if nothing and no one sees. He and God, together. The way you collapse into the arms of your mother after a great trial, falling with total relief into safety and comfort. The person who really loves God, whose heart is after The Lord, will praise with abandon and relief when The Lord does what he says he is going to do.

But the world will mock and despise. Michal, the remanent of Saul who rejected the word of God, she recoils in horror. She takes offense. Like if you sit quiet and explain to someone the great tidal wave of God's steadfast love for you and how it covers over everything and makes your steps sure and your heart fixed and the expression in your eyes causes that person recoil and seize up and push back from the table and escape. Your love of God is a thing of horror, an offense. The dry heart of Michal is suddenly reflected in barren flesh. There is nothing more for the person who despises God except to go down to Sheol alone. But not David. The ark is in his city. The presence of The Lord is near. All of Solomon's gorgeous temple could not house David's joy.