At last David was king in Jerusalem over all the people of Israel. But in his eyes, it was vastly more important that God be king in Jerusalem, revered and worshiped by all the nation.
A great occasion
To this end, he organized a great occasion. A sanctuary of the Lord was set up on Mount Zion. A solemn procession, with priests, David’s finest soldiers and the greatest dignitaries in the country followed the ark of the covenant into the holy city. This ark, the symbol of the presence of the God of Israel, was to be installed with reverence and splendor in a place where all could offer worship.
The people lined the route in their thousands — and they stared in amazement at a most astonishing sight for David found the occasion one of such spiritual excitement and gladness that “he danced before the LORD with all his might, being girded with a linen ephod.”
Regal dignity, pomp and circumstance went to the winds. Here was a man for whom the praise and worship of God mattered more than all else.
When David saw accomplished this first step in his ambitious plan to further the honor of the God of Israel in Jerusalem, self-restraint was thrown aside in an ecstatic expression of exuberance before all the people.
Michal’s scorn
Michal, his queen saw it all, too, but she saw it differently. “How glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovered’ himself.”
The icy sarcasm and deliberate misrepresentation by this beautiful but soulless daughter of a godless father would have punctured the enthusiasm of anyone except David. His righteous rejoicing was not to be gainsaid and the worship of Jehovah went on.
But as for Michal — “she had no child to the day of her death!” If David must choose between honoring the God of his fathers and the love of his cold, self-centered queen, there was no doubt where his choice would lie.
Believers invite scorn
In every generation, men have to make similar choices. Shall it be a God-centered life without any heed given to the sneers and derision of “superior” friends? Or shall it be a life where worldly standards set the pattern and God has to be content with the residue of one’s energy and devotion?
The man who puts God first in his life is bound to be thought a crank.
They said of Jesus
Such was the experience of Jesus himself: “And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.” A man who neglects his meals for the sake of preaching must be quite mad! A king who puts aside his royal splendor to dance with joy before the Lord obviously is wrong in the head!
So says the world, but not the believer.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One