I love Matt Redman’s song, Undignified, which goes: ” I will dance, I will sing, to be mad for my King, nothing Lord is hindering the passion in my soul. And I’ll become even more undignified than this, some would say it’s foolishness, but I’ll become even more undignified than this, leave my pride by the side…” Tommy Walker called it shameless worship . In today’s Bible reading, in 2 Samuel 6, we read the story of where this idea comes from. In it we see what happens when we become shamelessly undignified in our pursuit of God.

First, let’s pray: Lord Jesus, please give me wisdom and revelation by Your Holy Spirit about what it means to worship You with all my heart, no matter who misjudges me, and to keep on worshipping You despite setbacks. Search me of any wrong attitudes in my heart that You want to reveal and make me a true worshipper.

The Story … Please read 2 Samuel 6, and 1 Chronicles 13 and 15.

The Ark of God had been languishing in Kiriath-jearim for 20 years (1 Sam 7:2) since it was left there after the Philistines returned it from being captured in battle (1 Sam 4-6). When David became king, he wanted to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, and the whole assembly of Israel agreed with him (1 Chron 13:4). So all over Israel gathered at Kiriath-jearim to transport the Ark. And they celebrated before God with all their might, singing and playing all kinds of musical instruments-lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals and trumpets. It’s like our psalm in today’s reading:

Your procession has come into view, O God — the procession of my God and King as he goes into the sanctuary. Singers are in front, musicians are behind; with them are young women playing tambourines (Psalm 68:24-25). 

But the problem was that they neglected to consult God about the proper method of transporting the Ark. The Ark was specifically constructed with carrying poles (Exodus 25:10-22). And Deuteronomy 10:8 says that the Lord set apart the Levites to carry the Ark. But instead of doing it the way God prescribed, they put it on a new cart, copying what the Philistines did 20 years before to return the Ark (1 Sam 6:7). So when a non-Levite reached out and touched the Ark, God’s anger lashed out and killed him. That stopped the first attempt to bring the Ark to Jerusalem.

Three months later, David tried again. This time they did it right. The priests and the Levites purified themselves and they carried the Ark of God on their shoulders with its carrying poles, just as the Lord had instructed Moses (1 Chron 15:15). They had a Frontlines worship team with a song leader, singers, a horn section, a string section and percussionists making joyful music in the procession (1 Chron 15:16-28). And after every sixth step, they stopped to sacrifice an ox and a fattened calf. All the while, David served as the halau. His “heart was in motion” as he leapt and danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing only a priestly garment. And they successfully brought the Ark all the way to Jerusalem.

But as they approached the city, one of David’s wives, Michal, looked down from her window and was filled with contempt for David when she saw him dancing and leaping for joy (1 Chron 15:29). Later on she told David how disgusted she was with how he, the king of Israel, had exposed himself to the whole country like an indecent person. David’s response was: “I am willing to act like a fool in order to show my joy in the Lord. Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this” (2 Sam 6:21-22).

Some thoughts

The obvious lesson here is that when we worship the Lord, we need to examine whether we are doing it the way God wants us to. Jesus said that the Father desires worshippers who worship Him in spirit and in truth. We need to go and find out what that really means.

Secondly, when we fail, we should figure out what we did wrong, learn from our mistakes and try again.

This story was a great example of passionate worship. Especially in the second try, David pull out all the stops. He summoned all Israelites from across the country to Jerusalem for the event. He also summoned 862 Levites and priests to carry the Ark. How many Levites does it take to carry an ark, anyway? David went all out. 1 Chron 15:16-23 is very specific about the Levite musicians chosen to play in the band. And imagine the sacrifices. Two animals were slaughtered for every six steps. According to the map in my Bible, Kiriath-jearim looks to be a good 8 miles away from Jerusalem. If every step consisted of 2 feet, then they sacrificed about 3500 oxen and 3500 calves! That’s a lot of beef, not to mention a huge financial offering. And, of course, David danced for joy with all his might. A shameless worshipper gives God ALL s/he’s got and that’s what David did.

This story also helps us visualize how to worship the Lord today. The Ark of God was a symbol of His presence with His people. For the entire reign of Saul, the Ark was not really with the people of Israel. So David wanted to bring the presence of the Lord back to the capitol city so that His blessing could be upon the kingdom. The procession of bringing the Ark to the capitol city was like a ticker-tape parade of a king returning home victoriously after a battle and all the people rejoicing loudly. In the same way, every time we worship, we can imagine the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords being welcomed joyously to His rightful place of honor in our lives and in His Church. Every time we lift our voices, we leap with David in our heart to show our joy in the Lord for His presence. Jesus is our sure and coming King who deserves every ounce of our might as we worship before Him with all our heart.

But being a shameless worshipper requires more than just being willing to go all out for God. It means that we are willing to do so no matter who disdainfully judges us when we are. After all that David did for the Lord, he didn’t receive praise for it when he went home; instead he got a rebuke from his wife.

An additional lesson we can learn here is that it is easy to have disdain for people who are worshipping if we are not ourselves also worshipping. What was Michal doing at home anyway? She should have been out there in the procession from Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem joining the rest of the Israelites as they joyfully welcomed the return of the Ark of God. Instead she kept herself out of the Lord’s presence. And so it was easy for her to judge her husband from a worldly perspective.

Take aways

Lessons from this story can be summarized with these prayer points:

• Lord, make me a shamelessly passionate worshipper like David.
• Remove any wrong attitudes or practices in my worship.
• Help me keep on worshipping You no matter who judges me.
• Jesus, help me love and bless those who criticize me, and to remove any disdain I myself may have toward others when they worship You shamelessly.

Father God, You are so worthy of worship, so worthy of all of our hearts. We long to be in Your presence. So please fill us with joy and passion as we worship and welcome You into our hearts. Take up Your rightful place in us and reign. Remove any wicked way in us that we can’t see right now. Help us to be almost oblivious to whether we are dignified or not in the eyes of others as we worship You with all our hearts. Help us never to leave that place of having a worshipful heart. We don’t want to be like Michal and despise others for the joy they have in You. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! And be exalted in me, too!