Bible Devotion - 7/20/2021

This week, I want us to look through a third window in the Bible and as we do so, let's learn how to react and respond to the criticism and attacks of others.  In 2 Samuel 6:16 we find Michal, Saul’s daughter looking out a window and criticizing her husband, King David.  
Here we find David the object and subject of Michal's criticism.  Let’s unpack the storyline.
The scene before us in 2 Samuel 6 was a very special day in the life of King David and the children of Israel.  It was a day of great celebration and rejoicing.
The reason this was such a festive scene is because what we are witnessing is the return of Ark of the Covenant to its rightful place.  For 100 long years the Ark had been separated from the Tabernacle and its God appointed place and now it was returning.

The Ark of the Covenant symbolized the presence and power of God among His people.  The loss of the Ark meant that God's presence and power had departed from them.  Because of what it had meant for Israel to lose the ark, you can imagine what it meant to them to once again have the ark in their midst.  No wonder there was dancing, shouting and the sounding of the trumpets, along with the offering of burnt offerings and peace offerings as the ark was brought into Jerusalem.

We read they brought up the Ark with shouting.  The word was sometimes descriptive of a battle cry.  It speaks of a loud noise.  The streets were ringing with the shouts of the people of God.  There was great joy felt in their hearts and it could not be contained.  Their heart-felt joy burst and gushed forth in vocal and visible expressions of praise to the Lord.

If this had been the average Baptist Church it would have been a hushed and solemn affair, with bowed heads, and people mumbling in subdued tones, "God is in His holy Temple. Blessed be His Name."

In fact, some act as if when a person is saved their feelings and emotions must be divorced from anything that is spiritual.  It is all right to shout at a ball game, but God have mercy on your soul if you make as much as a peep at Church.

The Bible says in Psalm 32:11: Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

Just as David found reason to rejoice and celebrate, we have reason to rejoice and express our praise to God.  But this rejoice was short lived for the one in the window.  The bible says that Michal despised David in her heart.  The word means to "disesteem."  She looked down on David with contempt and scorn.
 
Follow the story a little further. We read in verse 19 that when the festivities were over, the people returned to their houses.  As the others, David returned to his house.  

We read in 2 Samuel 6:20:Let me take a moment and explain her words.  When Michal accused David of uncovering himself before the handmaids of his servants, she is not saying that he was dancing around naked in the streets.  If you notice in verse 14, the Bible says that David girded himself with a linen ephod.  The linen ephod probably consisted of the linen robe normally worn by the Levites.  When she spoke of how he uncovered himself, she was speaking of how he had laid aside his crown and royal robes and attire and clothed himself in the common garment of the Levites.  Instead of dressing like a king for such an important occasion, he had dressed as one of the people.  When she spoke of vain people, she was referring to the everyday, ordinary person on the street.  Are you with me??

Michal reminds me that criticism can often come from those who are nearest and dearest to our hearts and lives.  Criticism can also come from those who are perfect strangers, but in many cases, it comes from those we know.
 
Notice the way in which Michal is always described.  I think it is very enlightening.  We read in verse 16 that she is called "Michal Saul's daughter."  Then in verse 20 she is called "Michal the daughter of Saul."  She was the daughter of the embittered Saul, a man who was known for his fits of rage and contempt of David.  David was known as a man after God's own heart, but Michal was known for being more like her father.
 
You see two different people with two different sets of spiritual values. David loved the Lord; Michal had little place for God in her life.  David was committed to the Lord; Michal lived for self and thought only of herself.  David sought to give glory to God with his life; Michal sought only the material and temporal.  While David was out celebrating the goodness of God and worshipping, Michal was at home pouting and boiling with her own selfish feeling.

Verse 16 says that when she saw him, "she despised him in her heart."  She despised the devotion to the Lord she saw expressed by David, because she lacked the same devotion in her own heart.

There may be some of you that can relate to David.  I can think of a wife or husband that is saved, loves the Lord, serving God and seeking to honor Him with his or her life, but they have a spouse that is not saved or does not have the same spiritual values they do.

They won't come to Church with you and from the time you get home they are gripping about you going to church all the time.  Dinner’s not ready.  You get involved and serve in the Church. You start getting ready to go to visitation or some Church activity and they fuss at you because you spend so much time down at that church.
 
You hear such things as, "Why don't you just pack your bags and move down there at that Church. That's all you think about and talk about."  Some of you who are reading this may find your devotion being despised.

Michal brought into question David's motives.  She not only criticized what he did, but also why he did it.  She even suggested that he did it to be seen by others.  She claimed that he uncovered himself in the "eyes of the handmaids of his servants."

 I have found through the years that criticism has often come when someone misunderstood the motives of others. "Oh," someone says, "She is just doing what she does to get attention."  Or, "He just wants to be seen and get recognition."  Since our hearts cannot be seen by the human eye, we often find ourselves the object of someone's anger and scorn.
Have you been the recipient of someone's criticism?  If so, how do you handle criticism?  How should you react and respond?

Well, we can react and respond with anger, with our own words of criticism, with revenge and retaliation, or we can react and respond in a way that is Christ-like.

Notice in verse 21 how David responded to Michal's criticism:
David says, "What I did I did for the Lord.  I wasn't trying to draw attention to myself.  I was not bringing shame to you or myself.  I was doing it all for the One who chose me and made me king."

Once David justifies his actions notice carefully what he says, "Therefore will I play before the Lord." The word "play" literally means, "to laugh," and used here in this case speaks of being merry and praise.

David says to Michal, "I don't care what you say about me, I am going to continue to praise the Lord and rejoice in what He has done."  In short, David is saying that Michal's criticism is not going to stop him or silence him.  David was determined to keep praising the Lord!
When we find ourselves the object of someone's criticism, don't let the critic or their criticism discourage you, defeat you, or distract you. Just keep on living for God, keep on serving God, and keep on honoring God in all you do.

Don't let criticism stop or silence you, however, a good way to treat criticism is to do as H.A. Ironside suggested to Robert A. Cook.  Cook, then president of King's College in New York had been receiving some rather pointed criticism. He sought his dear friend, H.A. Ironside, and poured his heart to him about the matter.  Ironside listened and then said, "Bob, if the criticism about you is true, mend your ways!  If it isn't, forget about it!"

David not only determined that he would keep on doing what he had been doing, but also made the decision that he would even humble himself all that more.


He said, "I will yet be more vile." The word "vile" means, "to take lightly." "Michal," David says, "If you think what I did was taking lightly who and what I am, then I am going to take myself even more lightly."  Now he adds, "I will be base in mine own sight." The word "base" means, "to humble." "Michal,"  David says, "I am going to humble myself even more."  I think that David was thinking to himself, "If it were not for the Lord, I would not be a king. I owe it all to Him. What have I to be proud about anyway?"

David was purposing in his heart to serve God as he had never served Him before.  He was making the decision that he would honor God as he had never honored Him before.  Instead of letting the criticism stop him, he allowed it to motivate him.  The same ought to be the same for us.  Instead of letting criticism break us, we should let it build us.  Take your critics and their criticism to the Lord.  Let their attacks draw you closer to the Lord.  Let what they say and do only bind your heart closer to God and His Word.

Have you been criticized?  Are you being criticized?  Then like David, don't let it stop or silence you. Let it be the catalyst to greater devotion.


Brother Jeff