In one of David’s first acts as king over all the Israelite tribes, he returns the ark of God to Jerusalem, described in 2 Samuel 6. The chapter begins with tragedy when Uzzah, one of those tasked with carrying the ark of God, is struck down by the Lord for touching the ark to steady it when the oxen pulling the cart stumbled. David was deeply distressed and fearful, questioning, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” (2 Samuel 6:9).
In his fear, David has the ark sent to the house of Obed Edom instead of bringing it into Jerusalem. The narrator tells us that Obed-Edom’s household was blessed for 3 months while he held onto the ark. Upon hearing of this blessing, David sought to bring the ark back to the city of David, as originally intended.
The account of this same event in 1 Chronicles provides additional insight into why Uzzah was struck down for touching the ark. Uzzah and his brother Ahio were not carrying the ark in the way that the Lord had prescribed. Instead, they were carrying it in the manner the Philistines had used when they had stolen it about 20 years earlier. However, when the ark was brought back to Jerusalem, David ensured it was brought back correctly: carried on poles by the Levites.
The Levites brought the ark into Jerusalem the correct way, and they did so with great rejoicing. David “danced before the Lord with all his might” (2 Samuel 6:14). But it wasn’t just David who was worshiping with all his might: “all the house of Israel” followed his lead and joined the celebration, with heart, body, and mind (v. 15).
However, not everyone was pleased with David’s dancing. The author tells us that when David’s wife, Michal, saw her husband “leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised David in her heart” (v. 16). The narrator subtly shifts how Michal is described in this chapter, referring to her not as “the wife of David,” as she was in 1 Samuel, when she loved David and helped him escape from her father Saul. In 2 Samuel 6, she is referred to simply as “the daughter of Saul.” This shift highlights her alignment with her father’s ways rather than supporting David, the Lord’s anointed king.
Michal’s issue with David’s dancing likely wasn’t about his dance style itself. In their culture, it was considered inappropriate for someone of high rank, like a king, to dance in front of those of lower status. Michal believed that the king should not be dancing in the presence of his servants. Instead, the servants should have been dancing before the king. She criticized David, saying, “Oh, how the king has honored himself today, uncovering himself before the eyes of his servants’ female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” (2 Samuel 6:20).
How did David respond to Michal? With a key phrase that appears frequently in 2 Samuel 6: “before the Lord.” Throughout the chapter we see David celebrating “before the Lord”, dancing “before the Lord,” offering sacrifices “before the Lord.” David’s response to his wife was essentially, “Honey, you’ve got it wrong. I wasn’t dancing before someone lesser in status than me because I was dancing before the Lord. And I’m going to keep on dancing and making a fool of myself if I have to. He’s been too good to me for me not to dance and celebrate before the Lord.”
While the passage isn’t directly about preaching, the principle underlying the passage certainly applies to it. We can apply this to anything that we do: for any and every endeavor, we do it before the Lord.
When we preach, we do so before the Lord, and like David, we have the privilege of preaching before the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Furthermore, we lead the people of God in worship before the Lord, like the parade that followed and celebrated with their king bringing the ark back to Jerusalem. If we are to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1) in worship of God all the time, with everything, then certainly we must include the act of preaching as an opportunity to do so.
The praise and worship of God does not end when the preacher gets up to preach God’s Word. Rather the sermon is a continuation of the worship we have been offering in other ways prior to the message. Conversely, worship does not begin when the preacher stands up to preach, as if everything before was merely the preliminary leading up to the main event.
This notion of thinking about preaching itself as an act of worship and a means of leading God’s people in worship is not a new concept. Robert Smith, in his book, “Doctrine that Dances,” states that “the preacher of Christian doctrine is primarily a worshiper. Preaching is an act of worship” and “preaching is best done when preachers seek to praise God through their sermon.”
John Piper, in “Expository Exultation,” writes that “preaching is worship seeking worship” and that “preaching not only assists worship, but also is worship.” In his book “Preaching,” the late Tim Keller says that preaching with the glory of Jesus Christ as the subtext behind our preaching “aims beyond information, beyond capturing the imagination, and even beyond behavior change to the goal of changing what our heart most sets its affections on.”
Preaching itself is a great honor and privilege. May we be mindful that every message we preach, we do so before the Lord. May the Spirit of God move in such a way that we, along with the congregation, can together behold the glory of Jesus Christ.
Thurman Williams is assistant professor of homiletics at Covenant Theological Seminary and pastor of New City Fellowship – West End in St. Louis, Missouri.