Praise Him With Reckless Abandon

Discipleship Devotional, May 28th, 2025

As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.
– 2nd Samuel 6:16 (NIV)

A lot of times, when people are ashamed to honour God in public, it’s because they are more conscious about the presence of human beings than they are about the presence of God. In our anchor passage, we find that King David did not mind dancing to God before all his subjects. His wife, however, was vain and cared more about what people would say. Let’s see David’s response to her when she confronted him:

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, going around half-naked in full view 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 honor.”
– 2 Samuel 6:20–22 (NIV)

David said he would celebrate more and be even more undignified for the Lord. This tells us how much he regarded God. And we all know how both of them ended up. David was called a man after God’s own heart while Michal was barren. For us today, we must never allow social status or whatever things of this world to rob us of the opportunity to honour God in a lavish manner. In fact, when you find yourself in such situations, make sure you honour God in an even more undignified way, just to shame the devil. Don’t let anyone make you feel it’s unfashionable to praise God, to pray in tongues, to dance to God, etc. Honour God shamelessly and fearlessly.

Prayer

Help me, Lord, to always praise you and magnify you without caring about what people think.