To Encourage You

2 Samuel 6:16-23 “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 . . .  And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, ‘How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!’  And David said to Michal, ‘It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord—and I will celebrate before the Lord. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes.’”

In the passage above we see King David exulting in the blessings of God. As he transported the ark of the covenant into the city of Jerusalem, he was dancing and singing praises for the blessings of God’s presence, for that’s what the ark represented.  As he did this, he removed his royal garments. Although his was a very high position, his actions demonstrated a heart of humility before His God.  It was during this celebration that his wife, Michal, looked at him and “despised him in her heart.”  Later she mocks him with the words “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”  You see, Michal was Saul’s daughter. Saul was Israel’s king prior to David.  As such, she had been part of a royal family all her life, first as a daughter and now as the king’s wife. She viewed herself as dignified.  She was shocked that David would so “humiliate” himself by acting like one of the “vulgar fellows” as she called them, i.e., the common people of the land.  But David rebukes her. He reminds her that it was God and God alone who had chosen him to be king. He had a spirit of humility before God. He knew that he had been nothing more than a lowly shepherd boy when God had first called him.  He would humble himself always before His God, no matter how “contemptible” this made him in Michal’s eyes. 

So, what does this have to do with you and me?  What should be the attitude of a person upon whom God’s blessings are poured out?  Just as David was a man chosen by God, throughout the Bible God’s people are called by such names as His “elect,” or His “chosen.” In 1 Peter 2:9 believers are told “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”  Believers are very blessed.  But those believers should always remember that we are what we are only by the grace of God. We are sinners and it is only “by grace (we) have been saved through faith. And this is not (our) own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).  Ours should first and foremost be an attitude of humility. As we look at others around us, including those who may be caught up in all sorts of sin and its sad consequences, our attitude should never be like that of the Pharisee that prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” (Luke 18:11). No, it should rather be, “there, but for the grace of God, go I.”  

Yes, Christians are chosen, elect, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, but we are these things in spite of our sin, not because of our goodness. And if God has raised us to such an exalted position, it will be reflected in an attitude of great humility and never of pride or “I’m holier than thou!”  And come to think of it, it wasn’t only the example of David that we can follow regarding such humility.  For you see, it was David’s Son, the King of kings, who so incredibly humbled Himself as well.  And so, we who follow this King are commanded, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).  

May God give us who know Him the attitude of David, a man after God’s own heart, rather than the attitude of Michal, one who looked with contempt on a king who humbled himself to the glory of God.