Amos 5-21-24 I hate all your show and pretense--the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offering. I won't even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your hymns of praise! They are only noise to my ears. I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry.
WOW!
As a worship leader I didn't know how to take these words from Amos. I didn't know they existed until I was reading an article in the new Worship Leader magazine and it mentioned it. It seems that Amos and I would have been either best friends or fierce enemies. I am not a very popular person because of my views on worship. I tired long ago of the worship leaders with teeth so white they looked liked Chiclets. I became bored with singing songs about how great God was when most of the praise team were living secret lives of sin and refused to do anything about it. I got frustrated with leadership that wouldn't trust or support me. I grew impatient with pastors who looked at me like I was from another planet when I spoke of God speaking to me. It frustrated me when I was told what style to lead or what song to use or what group of people to keep happy or "minister" to. WHAT?!!! God must be so tired of us. We spend so much of our time trying to please everybody other than Him. When we finally do get a clue or have an "AHA" moment we are so burdened down with spiritual junk that the words we say and the songs we sing don't get past the top of our heads much less the ceiling.
As I said, I am not very popular. I don't believe that God only speaks to the pastor or only speak to me through His Word. I am either stupid or gulible enough to beleive that He cares enough about me that He will speak to me on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and every other day of the week. He doesn't expect me wait until I can pull over to the side of the road and get my Bible out or wait until Sunday when the pastor speaks for me to hear His voice. God speaks to me. Get over it!!
He doesn't usually speak to me through music even though music is such a big part of who I am. It is very often through His Word and also through the pastors words. But there are those times when I hear God in an almost audible way. I hear Him say, "Boy". That's what He calls me. When I hear that I know it's time to turn the radio off, pull the car over or find a quiet place so that I can listen. It's usually something like, "Boy, why are you so angry?" "Boy, why are you defeated?" "Boy, don't you know that I love you?"
Anyway, back to the words of Amos. God hates what we have done to worship. We have cheapened it and made it more about the worshippers than the object of our worship. Where do we get the idea that we are supposed to be happy with the song selection. Where do we get off putting God in a box of 20 or thirty minutes? I will not even sit in the same room with a worship leader who hasn't spent more time in prayer and personal preparation than he or she spends fixing their hair or chosing their clothes. I remember watching a worship leader singing the song, "Jesus, Lover of my soul" and thinking each time they sang, "It's all about You" their lives and actions were screaming out "It's all about me".
I too, have fallen into that trap. Being a worship leader is a very tough job. We must constantly keep ourselves in check. We must examine our motives and acitons. We must take a long look at the way we feel led to worship. Does it bring more glory and honor to God or us?
What God desires more than the music and the applause is to see His temple decorated with a mighty flood of justice and a river of righteousness.
Worship go so much further than the songs we sing. I wish God would bring a direct revelation to each member, every pastor, elder and deacon. Maybe He will.
Blessings
Allen
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Asking the Hard Questions
"But Lord," Gideon replied, "How can I resuce Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!" Judges 6:15
I was reading my devotion for February 27th and I just happened to be in the book of Judges. I remember turning to the page and half yawning thinking "Gees! I really need something from God's Word today and here I am in Judges." I started reading at verse 1 of chapter 6 and found myself reading far past the required 8th chapter. I found myself riveted to the events of the story of Gideon. I have heard them a thousand times before but I guess this day they just seemed to hit home.
We are told so often that we should never question God. That we should just live our lives Pollyanna style and never ever question the events of our lives. Gideon started out his life as the least of his tribe and his family and ended it as one of the greatest warriors recorded in the Bible. The thing is this; he just followed God's instructions and never even had to raise a sword to fight the Mideonites. God fought on his behalf and they distroyed themselves. WOW!!!!
But that is not what struck me this day.
I had finished the reading and went back to read what the devotional had to say. What it said was that Gideon had the audacity to quesiton God. God told him that He was sending him to fight the Midianites. "Who, Me?" he asked. "Are you sure". "This is Gideon and I'm just here to hide this wheat so the Midianites won't steal it". God had other plan and we all know how the story ends. Gideon obeys, God shows up and the rest is history.
I have lots of questions these days. Patricia and I were both laid off from our jobs on February 12th. Here it is right in the middle of the toughest economic times in our lifetime and we get laid off. It's not like we can just walk right into new jobs right now. There are only about 6 million people out of work in this country. The numbers are staggering. I have lots of questions but I guess I never really thought to ask God the questions that were running around in my mind. I took Gideons approach. I decided to stop right there and then and ask God the hard questions. I really didn't expect an answer right away but before I could get the question out of my mouth I could already hear the voice of God saying, "This is for my glory".
Well I guess this is it. My whole life in a nutshell. Bring God glory no matter what. I remember sitting across the table from the Hubach's and hearing the news that both of us were being laid off. I had so many things I had planned to say. Even though they have taken a company that was built on the principles of honoring God first and made it into anything but that. Even though I have witnessed unfair and unethical business practices. Even though they both profess to be believers and see no wrong in the things they say or do. Even though I could shake my finger in their face and give them a dose of what was coming to them I wasn't permitted to do so. I could only hear the voice of God saying, "Honor me. Obey me and I will fight the battle for you". I did get an opportunity to tell them that I was not surprised and that I knew that God was not surprised. I told them that our church family had already been praying about our job situation and that we would be ok. Of course they looked at us like we were from Mars. They don't understand what it is to live a life of faith. To depend on God for everything. To charge into life unafraid and unashamed. To truly stand on the promises of God. God promises are true. Sure, we are about to live our lives with Unemployment as our only income. We are already blessed. We are not saddled down with debt. Our mortgage and car payments are not late and we have very little that we cannot live without. God knew all this in advance. We just moved into a new home in August and our first inclination was to buy furniture and spend a lot of money getting the things we wanted. We didn't feel a peace about that so we decided to keep the furniure we had. We love our car but it is just a car. If the time comes that we can't pay for it, we'll find something we can afford. There is nothing that we have that we cannot live without. They are just things. All across this country people are losing their homes and posessions due to the current economic state. In the vast numbers I'm sure that we are not the only believers that have found themselves in this situation. Unbelievers may say, "where is your God? If He cares so much about you then why are you sitting home looking for a job like the rest of us?
Where is He? He is right here. Walking beside us whispering to us, "It's going to be OK". "This is for my glory".
Just because we are believers does not make us immune to the things that happen in this world. It is all in our response to those situations. No matter what happens, we must honor God. We must bring Him glory. If we run around in cirlces and dress in sackcloth and ashes like the rest of the world then what difference will the world see between us and them?
We may lose it all. The repo man may come to our door and pull the car away. We may eventually get a letter from our mortgage company asking us to vacate our home. As much as I don't won't either of those to happen, I am content. I am content to live my life in accordance with God's Word. If we obey Him, He will fight for us.
Blessings
Allen
I was reading my devotion for February 27th and I just happened to be in the book of Judges. I remember turning to the page and half yawning thinking "Gees! I really need something from God's Word today and here I am in Judges." I started reading at verse 1 of chapter 6 and found myself reading far past the required 8th chapter. I found myself riveted to the events of the story of Gideon. I have heard them a thousand times before but I guess this day they just seemed to hit home.
We are told so often that we should never question God. That we should just live our lives Pollyanna style and never ever question the events of our lives. Gideon started out his life as the least of his tribe and his family and ended it as one of the greatest warriors recorded in the Bible. The thing is this; he just followed God's instructions and never even had to raise a sword to fight the Mideonites. God fought on his behalf and they distroyed themselves. WOW!!!!
But that is not what struck me this day.
I had finished the reading and went back to read what the devotional had to say. What it said was that Gideon had the audacity to quesiton God. God told him that He was sending him to fight the Midianites. "Who, Me?" he asked. "Are you sure". "This is Gideon and I'm just here to hide this wheat so the Midianites won't steal it". God had other plan and we all know how the story ends. Gideon obeys, God shows up and the rest is history.
I have lots of questions these days. Patricia and I were both laid off from our jobs on February 12th. Here it is right in the middle of the toughest economic times in our lifetime and we get laid off. It's not like we can just walk right into new jobs right now. There are only about 6 million people out of work in this country. The numbers are staggering. I have lots of questions but I guess I never really thought to ask God the questions that were running around in my mind. I took Gideons approach. I decided to stop right there and then and ask God the hard questions. I really didn't expect an answer right away but before I could get the question out of my mouth I could already hear the voice of God saying, "This is for my glory".
Well I guess this is it. My whole life in a nutshell. Bring God glory no matter what. I remember sitting across the table from the Hubach's and hearing the news that both of us were being laid off. I had so many things I had planned to say. Even though they have taken a company that was built on the principles of honoring God first and made it into anything but that. Even though I have witnessed unfair and unethical business practices. Even though they both profess to be believers and see no wrong in the things they say or do. Even though I could shake my finger in their face and give them a dose of what was coming to them I wasn't permitted to do so. I could only hear the voice of God saying, "Honor me. Obey me and I will fight the battle for you". I did get an opportunity to tell them that I was not surprised and that I knew that God was not surprised. I told them that our church family had already been praying about our job situation and that we would be ok. Of course they looked at us like we were from Mars. They don't understand what it is to live a life of faith. To depend on God for everything. To charge into life unafraid and unashamed. To truly stand on the promises of God. God promises are true. Sure, we are about to live our lives with Unemployment as our only income. We are already blessed. We are not saddled down with debt. Our mortgage and car payments are not late and we have very little that we cannot live without. God knew all this in advance. We just moved into a new home in August and our first inclination was to buy furniture and spend a lot of money getting the things we wanted. We didn't feel a peace about that so we decided to keep the furniure we had. We love our car but it is just a car. If the time comes that we can't pay for it, we'll find something we can afford. There is nothing that we have that we cannot live without. They are just things. All across this country people are losing their homes and posessions due to the current economic state. In the vast numbers I'm sure that we are not the only believers that have found themselves in this situation. Unbelievers may say, "where is your God? If He cares so much about you then why are you sitting home looking for a job like the rest of us?
Where is He? He is right here. Walking beside us whispering to us, "It's going to be OK". "This is for my glory".
Just because we are believers does not make us immune to the things that happen in this world. It is all in our response to those situations. No matter what happens, we must honor God. We must bring Him glory. If we run around in cirlces and dress in sackcloth and ashes like the rest of the world then what difference will the world see between us and them?
We may lose it all. The repo man may come to our door and pull the car away. We may eventually get a letter from our mortgage company asking us to vacate our home. As much as I don't won't either of those to happen, I am content. I am content to live my life in accordance with God's Word. If we obey Him, He will fight for us.
Blessings
Allen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)