Exuberant Praise

2 Samuel 6:20-23

"When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would." David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord's people Israel-I will celebrate before the Lord. 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 honour." And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death."

There are many ways in which we can show exuberant acts of worship to God. After all, He deserves our utmost praise. In so doing we can expect people around us to, at best, misunderstand our words and/or actions, and at worst, view it with scorn and despise our person. This episode of David and Michal rebuking each other, at a surface reading, seems to me primarily as offending others' because of what we say or do (expression) that stems from our deeply held convictions. Maybe Michal's reaction was understandable, after all the king of the land must uphold proper conduct and a dignified demeanor much of the time. On the other hand, it also seems that she was the only one who is offended at this. Everyone else, it seems, did not mind at all and are happy in celebration with the wonderful return of the Ark of the Covenant to the City of David. Two streams of ideas come to mind: (1) Of course, as Christians we follow certain guidelines on how we should conduct ourselves in public, and yet when it comes to praise and worship and thanksgiving towards God, I think we can be sensitive enough not to offend others who may not share our ecstasy whether fellow believers or not. I believe in freedom of expression/speech/thoughts, no matter how arbitrarily repulsive it may be to others. Former US president Abraham Lincoln, who is himself a staunch Christian, once said, "We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it." (2) On the other hand, Scripture seems to side with David in this matter and rightly so. Extravagance in expressing our happiness and thanksgiving, moreso our praise and worship to God is never a luxury. God is simply awesome and amazing and He deserves much much more than what we can ever imagine to do for Him as David responds with becoming 'even more undignified than this,' and to be humiliated in his own eyes before an awesomely generous God. Ultimately, we cannot control what others think of us and I don't think that in this instance, such acts are not unwarranted. As David adds 'But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honour.' Indeed as noted, it seems, only Michal is shamed. We have a lot of similar situations in the pages of Scripture and somehow one of the most poignant episode I can recall is another unrestrained attention bestowed upon God. It is when Judas and other disciples are incredulous with Mary of Bethany pouring costly perfume of pure nard on Jesus's feet and wiped it with her hair. In the same way, Michal was indignant with David leaping and dancing around though "half-naked", generously sharing the ecstasy of worship and thanksgving with the common folk. Their reactions are reasonable, yes, and yet it may show us where these comments are ultimately coming from deep within their hearts. The apostle John tells us directly the real underlying motives for Judas's indignance, but for Michal, only the result of such scornful reaction is revealed. We can only speculate about what is not right in her heart.

John 12:1-8

"Six days before Passover, Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters invited Jesus to dinner at their home. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the table with them. Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus' feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house. Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, "Why wasn't this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would easily brought three hundred silver pieces." He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them. Jesus said, "Let her alone. She's anticipating and honoring the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you. You don't always have me."

~12.05.2014