Prior to David becoming King in Israel, the Ark of the Covenant, that sacred symbol of God’s presence with Israel, was captured by the Philistines. The problem for the Philistines was that wherever they parked the Ark of the Covenant, terrible things happened. Finally they put it on an oxcart to see where the oxen would take it, hoping that it would go back to Israel and relieve them of the trouble it was causing them.

David heard where it had arrived and that the house of Obed Edom was blessed because of the presence of the Ark and he went down to bring it back to Jerusalem. We read in 2 Samuel 6, “When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fatted calf. David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought 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."

When He returned home, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would. David said to her. I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.”

Here is what I love about David. He was so in love with God that he held nothing back. He was not in any way afraid to declare that love. He was in no way embarrassed by his faith. Think about a time when you were afraid to say something about your faith in the workplace or elsewhere. We didn’t want to be embarrassed or look silly. We wanted to be a part of the crowd. We didn’t want to stand out.

And then we read the words of David. I will become even more undignified. He didn’t care what people thought. He only cared that God knew of his love and devotion. I love that word “undignified.” I want to be undignified for God. I want to live a life of devotion without embarrassment and without reserve. I want to be so upfront with my faith and God that I never hold back but speak boldly.

Think about that word undignified today. Are you ready to be undignified for God? 

Father. Remove my fear of being embarrassed on your behalf. Give me boldness and give me the freedom of caring only about what you think. Never what others think. Amen.