Good morning and Thanks for all the added insight!
2nd Samuel chapter 6.
There was a great celebration before God as King David and his men transported the Ark of God. The problem was, the Levites did not carry the ark as they were instructed to do so and no one was consecrated before God. This made God very angry and as result a man died for touching the ark. They were disobedient to God in the way they transported the Ark of God.
The same with us today when we enter the church or place of fellowship. We are to be holy and consecrated before God. Our ritual prayers and Bible reading will mean nothing to the Lord if our heart is not right before God. We need to continually examine our hearts to ensure we are right before him and obedient with our walk.
The second time King David transported the ark, I'm sure it was done correctly and once again the people celebrated before the Lord. David was so much into celebration that he danced naked before God. It was an act of humiliation before God. David's naked dance before the Lord was a great act of humiliation of self and exaltation of God.
I'm certainly not going to try this dance in church, but I will say how important it is to be able to strip ourselves of any pride or arrogance when we come before the Lord. We must be so humble before God that we acknowledge Him as the great God and king of our lives and of this world. Let us never allow pride or arrogance enter our hearts as if to think we could ever compete with God.
David's wife, Saul's daughter, Michal, when she saw David dancing naked before the Lord, despised him. She confronted David and said how inappropriate that was before the slave girls. David responded by confronting the real issue: he basically told her she was presenting and despising him because her dad Saul was not chosen by God to be king over Israel. Then he explained how his dance was so honorable to God that even the slave girls would honor him for his heart before God.
Michal resented and despised King David for what reason? He did nothing wrong. He was only being obedient to God's call on his life.
It's a sad fact, and too easy to fall into, that when God calls us into a new position, we must be obedient. Some will resent or despise our obedience to God, but it's something we must still do. Obedience is a priority. Someone who resents or despises have issues with the Lord. They must surrender those feelings of resentment and ask God for help to be able to rejoice and celebrate with another's new calling in life.
“Is David out of his mind? He shouldn’t be doing that out in public!”
That may have been what Michal was thinking as she saw David celebrating before the Lord. That was her husband, the king! She was embarrassed as she was looking at the outward appearance. Now please don’t get me wrong. Modesty is important and we shouldn’t ever do something that may cause someone else to sin, but I wonder how many times I’ve been so focused or worried about what others might think of me instead of simply aiming to please the Lord.
Another thought that I had is how the world doesn’t want our beliefs to be shown out in the public eye, but only kept to ourselves in private like it’s supposed to be a secret about how God saves souls. Yes, it is a personal relationship with the Lord, but we are to go and make disciples.
Remember that God looks at the heart. I find it interesting that David had so many children, but we read that no children were ever born to Michal. Perhaps she had a hard heart.
May the love of Christ control us as we would each have a moldable heart and not live for ourselves, but live as a new creation in Him!
I’m thinking today about 2 Corinthians 5:11-17.
“Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and He (Jesus) died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
The David’s history is told in the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles. Since each of these books includes a little different detail, it is sometimes fun to read a chronological Bible and get the whole picture in one place. In 1 Chronicles 15, we’ll read that David did indeed read up on the laws given to Moses on moving the ark before the next attempt at moving it.
V 16,17 – We should all follow David’s example – bless the Lord first and then we can a true blessing to others.