NOTES for Sa2 6:12-15

For us, ridicule is often the most frightening thing. Or not only ridicule, but any expression of public opinion at all. It is very hard for us to overcome this. What gets in our way is not only vanity, not only pride; often what gets in our way is the absence of love. Sometimes we have no one for whose sake we are ready to endure humiliation, ridicule, or even simply looking less than respectable or familiar.

David, wearing only a linen ephod - that is, domestic clothing rather than the ceremonial clothing proper for a king - danced before the ark of the Covenant, before the place of God's presence. David was a king. But his King was God. And David loved his God, his King, loved Him so much that he feared nothing: not Goliath, not Saul who pursued him, and later not the most frightening thing of all - ridicule, disrespect.

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