There’s a moment in Scripture that has been sitting with me.

2 Samuel 6:16 says that as the ark of the Lord entered the city, Michal watched David dancing before the Lord and she despised him in her heart.

But what struck me is this:

There was a time when Michal loved David.

1 Samuel 18:20 tells us that clearly. She wasn’t always distant or critical. She once saw something in him that she loved deeply.

So what changed?

I can’t help but wonder if her reaction came from a place of hurt or even jealousy.

David is there, completely undone in worship. No pride. No image to maintain. Just wholehearted love and devotion poured out before God.

And Michal is watching from a distance.

I wonder if, in that moment, it felt like David loved God more than he loved her.

That the passion, the expression, the abandonment she may have longed to receive was being given fully to God instead.

And rather than drawing her in, it pushed her away.

Sometimes it’s easier to criticise what we don’t understand
or what we feel we’ve been left out of.

What she saw as undignified,
God saw as worship.

What she despised,
God received.

It makes me think about how easy it is to misread devotion when our own hearts are hurting.

And how often distance can turn into judgement when we don’t feel part of what we’re seeing.

There’s something deeply human in her response.

Because if we’re honest, there are moments when someone else’s closeness with God can expose our own distance and instead of stepping closer, we pull back.

But David’s focus was never on who was watching.

It was always on Who he was worshipping.