November 7

“And David danced before Jehovah with all his might and David was girded with a linen ephod.” 2 Samuel 6:14

Michal, the daughter of Saul, saw her husband dancing before the ark of God and despised him in her heart. He ought, she believed, to maintain his dignity as king, just as her own father had tried to do. But David viewed things differently. In the presence of God he saw himself as base and contemptible, having no special standing whatever. Though on the throne he was Israel’s king, before the ark of God he was on the same level as his subjects.

Even after God had rejected him, King Saul had sought to save his face by asking Samuel the prophet to honor him before the nation. Now Michal was making the same mistake. Born in the palace herself, she considered that David merited the dignity of king in God's presence. Perhaps, like her father, she too had her own majesty to think of. That way lies fruitlessness. The one who wields true authority is otherwise. He will not be high-minded, grasping to serve his position, but meek and humble before God, a model to his people.