Created to Play: Thoughts on Play, Sport, and the Christian Life

His playful uninhibited exuberance was so expressive, it offended <strong>to</strong> his wife.
“And David returned <strong>to</strong> bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out
<strong>to</strong> meet David and said, "How the king of Israel honored himself <strong>to</strong>day, uncovering
himself <strong>to</strong>day before the eyes of his servants' female servants, as one of the vulgar
fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!" As the ark of the LORD came in<strong>to</strong> the city of
David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David
leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart” (2 Sam 6:20).
David is unapologetic due <strong>to</strong> his deep gratitude for God’s gracious favor.
"And David said <strong>to</strong> Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me above your father
and above all his house, <strong>to</strong> appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the LORD- and
I will make merry before the LORD. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this,
and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken,
by them I shall be held in honor." (2 Sam 6:21-22).
Michal was unable <strong>to</strong> appreciate the magnitude of God’s grace and therefore had no category for
David’s joyful response. Her highest value seemed <strong>to</strong> be royal dignity. For David, God’s glory
returning <strong>to</strong> his people far surpassed the need <strong>to</strong> maintain royal decorum. 23 David’s celebration
epi<strong>to</strong>mizes key elements of our definition of play. His enthusiastic, exuberant, dancing and
leaping was, free, creative, fun, non-utilitarian and demonstrated and encouraged hope, delight,
gratitude, and celebration. Michal “despised him for the very qualities that made him great,
namely devotion <strong>to</strong> the Lord and spontaneity in worship.” 24 Her failure <strong>to</strong> grasp God’s grace,
and consequently playful exuberance resulted in barrenness for the remainder of her life (2 Sam
6:23). Perhaps Michal’s bareness gives us a warning about the poverty of a life bereft of
exuberant childlike freedom in worship.
David’s playful dancing and leaping mirrors other responses of the joy over God’s
res<strong>to</strong>ring, power and presence.
• “Singers and dancers alike say, "All my springs are in you."” (Ps 87:7)
• “The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.” (Ps 114:4)
• “Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn
yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers (or “the
chorus of the playful,” (YLT)) (Jer 31:4)
•
“ Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall
be merry. I will turn their mourning in<strong>to</strong> joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness
for sorrow.” (Jer 31:13)
• “. . . then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the <strong>to</strong>ngue of the mute sing for joy. For
waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;” (Isa 35:6)
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