NOTES for Sa2 6:12-15

Ridicule is often the most frightening thing for us. Or perhaps not only ridicule, but any expression of public opinion. It is very difficult for us to overcome this. We are hindered not only by vanity and pride, but often by a lack of love. Sometimes there is no one for whose sake we are prepared to endure humiliation and ridicule, or even simply to look less than respectable or conventional.

David, wearing only a linen ephod—that is, ordinary clothing rather than the ceremonial attire appropriate for a king—danced before the Ark of the Covenant, before the place of God's presence. David was a king. But God was his King. And David loved his God, his King, so much that he feared nothing: neither Goliath, nor Saul who persecuted him, nor, later, the most frightening thing of all—ridicule and disrespect.

And if we acknowledge God as our King, humble ourselves, and bow down before Him, we too will be freed from the fear of ridicule, from the fear of being humiliated, which in itself humiliates us. For there is no fear in love, and everything we do out of love, in freedom, is right.