“And the Lord said,
Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth and honor Me with their
lips but remove their hearts and minds far from Me, and their fear and
reverence for Me are a commandment of men that is learned by repetition
[without any thought as to the meaning]” – Isaiah 29:13 (Amplified)
A few Sundays ago, the Holy Spirit arrested me during my
prayer time. I heard so clearly in
my spirit the Lord ask this simple, but convicting, question: “Are you going to
worship Me when you worship today?”
At first, I was slightly offended.
“God, how could you ask me that?
I worship you every Sunday. And every Wednesday.
Whenever I listen to worship music or spend time in Your Word! Of course I worship you!!” But like a well-seasoned teacher
speaking to his young and cocky student, the Lord asked me the question again –
“Are you going to worship Me when you worship today?”
It was then that the verse from Isaiah (repeated in Matthew)
came to me and I began to see what God was teaching me. I can be present in worship, but not
really be in His presence. My body
is there during the “worship” time, but there is no worship going on. I’m singing songs. I’m lifting my hands. I’m closing my eyes. I’m hearing His
Word. But, as the verse says, my
heart and my mind are far from Him.
My heart and mind have set their attention on other things. Not necessarily sinister or evil
things. Just things that distract
and divert. I believe the Bible
calls these things “the cares of this world” (Mark 4:19).
Now as a worship leader, this can become dangerous. As a leader, I am leading the
congregation to where I am. If I’m
not worshipping when its time to worship, then I am leading the congregation in
false worship. Empty worship. Vain worship. (You can see now why the
conviction came so strong) But whether you are the set “Worship Leader” for
that time or not, you are still leading others in your worship. You are still a model that others are
following.
For an instrumentalist it may seem that this as just a
“singer’s problem”, but I have to disagree. As a musician, you may not necessarily worship with your
mouth, as the verse says, but you can still fall prey to the trap of having no
worship in your worship. You may
be playing your instrument during worship, but are you playing unto the
Lord? I think of David as a
shepherd boy. His audience every
day and every night wasn’t a church congregation or even a great assembly of
people. There were actually no
people hearing him play at all.
Just the sheep in his care…and the Lord. He wasn’t playing to impress the sheep, or even trying to
impress the Lord he was just playing before Him out of his love for Him. Whether he was singing or playing his
harp (or both at the same time), he was worshipping.
Now, am I talking about a feeling or an emotion to tell us
that we are worshipping?
Absolutely not, even though there’s nothing wrong with feelings or
emotions in worship. I think about what Elder David Goodin shared with me a few
years ago – “How would you sing your song (or play your instrument) if you were
standing before Jesus?” Would you
be trying to impress Him with your knowledge and skill or would you simply play
as an expression of love?
I remember when Hanna (my daughter), who was just a baby,
began smiling at me. I didn’t
command her to smile. I didn’t get
angry with her if she didn’t smile.
I just held her, looked at her and smiled at her. Then one day when I smiled at her she
smiled back. That was her
expression of love to me. It
didn’t have to be forced or coerced. She didn’t try to fancy it up with a wink
and a nod. It was just a smile.
She loved me and the way she knew to express it was to smile at me. That showed me an aspect of worship
that I hadn’t seen before. Worship
is just an outward expression of what you are experiencing on the inside. How it is displayed varies on your
knowledge and ability of expression.
Hanna knew how to smile so she smiled at me. Now, if I’m sitting in the room with her and she’s playing with
her toys and begins to smile and laugh, I can’t say, “Oh look, she expressing
her love for me.” I can’t say that
because at that moment I am not the center of her attention. When I’m holding her and she’s looking
at me I can say that.
Now let’s see that from God’s perspective. Some of our expressions of love
(worship) are to lift our hands, sing, play our instrument, etc. But just because we are doing these
things doesn’t mean we are worshipping.
These outward expressions are worship when He is the center of our
attention. So, are we playing our instrument just to play? Are we singing our
songs just to sing? Is God the
center of our attention? Is He
even the center of our affection? Is
there any worship in your worship?
