Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord …
Summary: Paul challenges us to (cringe) be undignified. Honoring God can sometimes bring us to a place where we choose between “looking cool” and being humble before the Lord.
Why would the Lord ask us to sing and make music from our hearts? (Has he ever heard me sing?!)
Of course, he’s heard you sing, and me, too. Have you ever listened to a child sing? Are they on key? Do they know all the words? Does it even sound like singing?
When a child sings, it may be that the only one who appreciates it is the parent (or grandparent!). The singing is not the trained voice of a Carnegie Hall performer but the joyous, untrained voice of one of God’s creations. There is a certain magic in the singing of a child that no professional singer can ever match.
When King David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, he thought it important to acknowledge God before the ark. God was not “in” the ark, nor was his cloud present (Exodus 13:21), but God was watching, and David knew it. So David himself danced before the ark as it was being brought to the city (2 Samuel 6: 14-15).
What kind of dancing was it? Was it dignified? Did David look like he knew what he was doing?
David’s dancing before the ark was so ridiculous looking that his wife, Michal, “despised him” (2 Samuel 6:16). This was a woman who loved David and had once saved him from being killed by her father, Saul (1 Samuel 19).
And how did David describe his own dancing before the Lord? He said, “I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes” (2 Samuel 6:22).
Each of us has a brain that argues with itself. Half of our brain is like Michal, concerned about appearances. The other half is like David, concerned about doing what is right. The two halves don’t always agree.
David chose to follow the half that is undignified in his own eyes because that was how he glorified God. David allowed his thoughts about God to come out in poems, and his thoughts were written down and became the psalms we read in the Bible. Paul is encouraging us to do the same thing. We don’t necessarily have to do this in front of other people, but alone with God, it is good to let our hair down and sing praises to God with abandon.
Application: Practice singing and making music from the heart today.
Food for Thought: How does it glorify God if we become undignified in our own eyes?
How does it glorify God if we become undignified in our own eyes?
I would dare say “dignity” as we know it involves some kind of outside observation. Meaning our concept of dignity is usually from someone in our past or present telling us what is or is not dignified. It comes back to what is the center of your life. If we are walking in the light, focused on God’s Will, the idea of “maintaining dignity” as a standard of behavior goes out the window, and wholeheartedly submitting to the Spirit becomes the measuring stick. Dancing in itself is not a sin, but how or why we do or don’t dance could be. If we are able to let go of all external distraction and focus solely on praising God, even if we look “undignified,” then our dancing becomes a special bond between us and God.
There is another aspect to “looking undignified in praise.” If we live in righteousness, walk in the Spirit, and present ourselves as a lamp from which the light of the world (Jesus) shines through, and others can see Jesus living in us, and we dance unabashedly before God, others will want that too. It all really ties together.
1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Thanks Chris!
When you write, “wholeheartedly submitting to the Spirit” my heart says, “Amen!” 🙂
09-01-2023, How does it glorify God if we become undignified in our own eyes?
Cambridge Dictionary, dignified: calm, serious and behaving in a way that makes people respect you.
Dignity, by biblical definition, is tied to the biblical concept of glory. God’s glory, His importance, His significance, is what the Bible uses to describe the fountainhead of all dignity. And only God has eternal value and intrinsic significance. We are His creation which comes from the dust.
Dust isn’t all that significant, but we became significant when God scooped up dust, molded it into a human being and breathed into it the breath of life, saying This creature is made in my image. God assigns eternal significance to temporal creatures. We don’t have anything in us that would demand God treat us with eternal significance. We have eternal significance and eternal worth because God gives it to us.
We glorify God as we recognize, demonstrate this reality, find our peace, and happiness as we submit to His Power and Glory as our creator, God. We live according to God’s will, not man’s, and might look a little bit silly as we get up early Sunday morning, dress ourselves appropriately, and as a family carry our Bibles as we go off to worship our creator, God, who nobody else sees.
Matthew 23:12
Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
1Peter 5:6
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,
Ron,
Equating dignity and glory is a fascinating thought! Thank you!
David explains his actions in 2 Samuel 6:21-22
21 So David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord. 22 And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor.”
If being dignified means to feed my pride and how others see me rather than them seeing an accurate representation of God, then I need to be undignified so that God is dignified in the eyes of others. That would also be an accurate representation of reality. I have nothing to boast in but Christ.
Rich,
Yes, I agree. The focus has to be on God and if by comparison we look undignified, so be it.