Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets. 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.
2 Samuel 6:14–16 NIV
The world tells us how to live our lives—how to eat, communicate, love, sleep, grieve, and celebrate. The problem is, the world’s philosophies, values, and viewpoints don’t usually mesh with God’s ways. In the book of 2 Samuel, when David danced before the Lord, we sense that even though his wife Michal despised her husband’s spectacle of utter joy, the Lord did not. David was celebrating with abandon—although not in the conventional ways perhaps—but he was indeed showing his passionate joy and profound thankfulness to God.
How easy it is to seek the approval of others. How tempting. But how unwise. Let us instead seek to satisfy God, to love Him, to joy in His presence. Life will then be more beautiful. Maybe not as the world describes beauty, but it will possess a loveliness in spirit from the Lord that the world cannot touch. That the world will puzzle over. That the world may even ponder and eventually desire.
Dear Lord, help me to seek Your approval and not the world’s. Show me how to praise You for Your goodness and mercy. Amen.
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Today’s reading was adapted from Daily Wisdom for Women: 2016 Devotional Collection with permission from Barbour Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reading was written by Anita Higman.