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Sing your song!

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Reflections based on Exodus 15:1–20.

‘I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.’

Here Moses and the people sing a song of great victory, giving glory to God for the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea. At the end of the reading we are told that Miriam took up her tambourine and led all the women into their own song and dance.

I just wanted to encourage you today to recognise that we all have a song. Psalm 40:3 says that ‘He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God’ so allow your song to bubble up and sing it out! Too often we can allow ourselves to be silenced, but not so Miriam – and we should be the same.

There will be specific songs for specific times – look in this passage at how their song directly responds to what God has just done for them. When was the last time you sang out a song of thanks to God for an answer to prayer?

Whether you have a good voice or not doesn’t come into it. The Bible refers to incense as ‘sweet smoke’ and it is used to describe our prayers, worship and praise. Indeed 2 Corinthians 2:15 says that ‘we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ’.

Just as Christ’s death on the cross washes us clean of our sins and allows us to come close to our heavenly father, so I believe it turns any out-of-tune, ear-piercing songs into a delightful sound! If you aren’t too sure you agree with me, think about a child doing something for the first time. Whether they have perfected it or not isn’t important – their parents still well up with pride. God is longing to hear your voice today, so won’t you sing to Him with the words He has already placed on your heart?

Meditation/prayer: Spend some time thinking back over what God has done for you in recent months, then let your thankfulness bubble out of you as a song.

Undignified

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Reflections based on 2 Samuel 6:12–22.

‘Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might…
I will become even more undignified than this.’

Now. Be honest in your response to the question I’m about to ask you. Who did you relate to most when you read today’s passage? The carefree king, totally wrapped up and worshipping his God, or his wife, embarrassed by his ‘show’, who felt his behaviour should have been more befitting of his position? To put it in a modern-day context: how often have you looked at the slightly strange dancer in church, the flag wavers or ‘groaners’ and wished they weren’t in your congregation? Or been upset by something your church leader has suggested, or allowed, as it didn’t seem ‘respectful’ enough for church?

I want to challenge us all to consider whether we are too busy thinking about how others view us to worship freely – and whether we are impinging our notions of what worship should look like onto others. David wasn’t worried about anyone around him because he was concentrating on an audience of one – his Lord. Even when Michal challenged him over his actions he said that he’d be even more undignified, given the chance. What a great retort!

So when was the last time you felt abandoned in worship? As it should be out of the overflow of our hearts that we worship doesn’t it follow that sometimes we should get a little ‘crazy’, doing something out of our normal comfort zones?

Now I know that many of you reading this will be British, like myself, and I also know that I’m quite a reserved person (and enjoy the fact that I’m usually standing behind my keyboard in corporate times of worship!). But I think there is more to it than that. God wants our hearts so captivated by His truths, which transcend race, gender etc, that we can’t help but worship Him fully.

Prayer: I am sorry Lord that I can allow insecurities about what others may think of me to hold me back. Help me to learn how to be abandoned to You in worship.

Find time to withdraw

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Reflections based on Luke 10:38–42.

‘“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?”… Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’

Jesus is here tackling the issue of our natural tendency to busy ourselves doing ‘stuff’. Honestly, I find it hard to stop (even to spend time with God) before I’ve done all the jobs that need doing. And yet, when I put time with God first, my perspective on things definitely changes. And when I ask for His help for those things on my ‘to do’ list that really do still need doing often I find a renewed energy and focus. Things that I thought would take me a long time are done much more quickly.

I think that Jesus is also making a very pertinent comment about our acts of service. I know I’ve said in the previous entry of this blog series that worship is service, and that is true, but the heart behind it is the crux of the matter. I have purposefully written this blog straight after the last one because I think we can often busy ourselves with commendable tasks, but neglect the love relationship that is meant to be behind them, fuelling them. Yes, feeding and caring for the guests were necessary jobs (and, secretly, I can totally understand Martha’s frustration!) and yet we can go overboard and miss out on the very thing that we truly desire and need – time with, and input from, our Lord.

How often do we overcomplicate things that could be done more simply, which would free us up more to spend time with Him? And how often do we run out of energy doing things that God hasn’t called us to do? We need to take time to sit at His feet as Mary did; drawing from the Source so that we can serve others out of the overflow He has given us, not from our own, limited, strength.

Question: How often do you rush about trying to achieve things, while neglecting time at your saviour’s feet? Repent and spend some quality time with Him today.

Worship is service

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Reflections based on Romans 12:1–21.

‘Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.’

This passage focuses on the fact that our everyday lives should be about keeping in step with God. The Message translation is great at putting this point across. I like the challenge it gives us right at the start not to be moulded by our culture, as I think that is a danger we can all slip into so easily – without realising it.

The richness of truth in today’s reading is amazing. But much of it is so simple: if we put our focus on God, simply doing what He asks us to, He will change us for the better. It puts it in such a matter of fact way. We should find out what it is God wants us to work at then focus on just that. The image of the body used in verses 4–6 is a vivid picture of how each of us has a God-ordained function.

So worship is not just about what we say but also about what we do. Colossians 3:23–24 sums up how we can worship through daily tasks: ‘Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since…it is the Lord Christ you are serving.’

The second part of our passage today covers so much of what we can do within a life of worship (loving each other, helping those in need, living at peace, looking after ourselves so we don’t burn out). Each one of these is an important aspect of worship. 1 John 3:17–18 goes so far to say, ‘If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.’ Sobering stuff…

Question: Have you considered helping the poor, or fulfilling your role within the church family, to be an act of worship before? How should that change your attitude towards such things?

Costly worship

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Reflections based on Genesis 22:1–18.

‘Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son,
your only son.’

Imagine what is going on between the lines here for a moment. At the start of this passage we are told that God asks Abraham to take his son and sacrifice him on an altar. In the very next verse we are told Abraham set off the following morning, early, to do just that.

I am curious about what must have been going through his head during the night, but what an incredible act of obedience to get up and prepare to do what God has told him to! He doesn’t know that God is going to step in and provide a different object for the offering – even if he does say in faith when Isaac asks him where the lamb is that God would provide (oh how deeply that question must have cut him).

And how must Isaac have felt when his father then bound him to the altar!? He must have thought he was crazy! And yet he then sees how God steps in in his sovereignty and listens as God makes a promise about Abraham’s descendants. Of course, this episode also gives us a beautiful picture of how God would, in the future, give up his own son to death. While he stepped in and saved Isaac from the altar he had to allow his own son to suffer in order to save humankind.

We may never be asked to pay such a high price as Abraham, or indeed be tested as much as he was, but, when we hear God’s clear direction, it is an act of worship to be obedient – whatever the cost. Interestingly, in 2 Samuel 24:24 David says, ‘I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing’. In a way, worship needs a cost – as it then reveals how much God means to us.

Question: When was the last time that you offered God something that cost you greatly in terms of personal sacrifice?

How praise is made possible

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Reflections based on Hebrews 13:11–16

‘Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.’

I believe that this passage is a great reminder of our need for a saviour, and the ultimate sacrifice that he had to pay. Before He came, communion with God was only possible through a hugely complicated set of rules and animal sacrifices. Jesus’ death did away with such rituals and opened up the way to the Father.

Let’s ponder Jesus’ sacrifice a little more. Remember the agonising struggle that He had in Gethsemane when he thought about what was about to happen to him? Take a look at Matthew 26:36–46. ‘My soul is overwhelmed’ seems like a very apt description but somewhat inadequate too! Thinking about His humanity, Jesus must have been petrified at this point and yet He was still able to pray: ‘Yet not as I will, but as you will.’ Wow. But thank goodness He was able to do that, as it is only through what He suffered and endured, and then fought and conquered through His resurrection, that we are able to have a relationship with God. Today we are able to worship God freely, without needing to go through a priest.

While Jesus paid the sacrifice for our sins in a way we are totally incapable of doing for ourselves, God does still ask us for sacrifice. We are told to take up our cross on a daily basis (Luke 9:23). We are also asked to put others before ourselves (Philippians 2:1–4). But when each of these things is done from an attitude of thankfulness and remembrance of what Jesus has done for us, they don’t seem like so much of a sacrifice do they?

Prayer: Thank you Lord for paying the price that I could not for my salvation. Help me to live in the light of what you’ve done, remembering to take up my own personal cross daily as well as put on an attitude of thankfulness and praise.

Lips that praise/lips that curse

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Reflections based on Matthew 15:1–20.

‘What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.’

Here Jesus is challenging the Pharisees and teachers of the law that had come to Him to try to trip Him up. He closely reflects what is said in Isaiah 29:13: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.’

What Jesus was trying to get across to them was that worship is not about just paying lip service. He explains that it is what comes out of a person’s lips that makes them unclean because it is out of the overflow of his heart that a man speaks. This is a sobering thought and prompts me to ask – what are you like when no one is looking? In church, even at work, we can put on a show of behaving like Christians and yet, behind closed doors, the reality can be very different. Ironically, the one that we profess to follow and worship sees it all – and knows us to the very depths of our beings. What He wants from us is a walk of worship that is full of integrity day in day out.

‘Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.’ (James 3:10) This verse reveals to me that part of our daily worship is to keep a check on our tongues, possibly because I know it is an area that I need to work on further! Words of healing but also words that cut and hurt can come out of the very same mouth at various times in a day, but here we are being reminded that there is something vitally wrong with this.

Prayer: Use the following psalm as a prayer. ‘May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.’ (Psalm 19:14)

 

In Spirit and in truth…

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‘Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.’

Reflections based on John 4:1–26

There is so much that I could say about this passage – including how Jesus crossed cultural boundaries to reach out to this woman – but today I want to focus on what He teaches us about the importance of attitude over place in worship. The Samaritan woman is bowled over by how much this man knows about her and recognises the fact that He must be a prophet or some such person. So, feeling uncomfortable, she changes the subject and asks Him about a popular theological question of the day – where the correct place to worship was: ‘Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem’.

Jesus’ answer is one of the most important teachings on worship that He gave: ‘believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem… God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth’. In this statement Jesus was revealing the importance of attitude rather than location when we worship. He also spoke of the importance of the Spirit as well as truth, as it is through the Spirit that we are able to really connect with God and celebrate the truths that we know about Him. And the Bible clearly teaches that we are all born of the Spirit when we become Christians. That means we can each draw on His wisdom and strength day by day (Ephesians 1:13–14).

Sadly, sometimes our Westernised ‘worship culture’ can actually be a smoke screen if we get too caught up in it, and it can actually end up hiding us from God rather than drawing us nearer to Him. The means by which we worship should always remain that – the means, not the end. It is not about the latest songs, or the ‘best’ worship leader. While I enjoy singing new songs, putting too much emphasis on them causes them to be a distraction.

Question: Do you have a tendency to focus on the songs and musical arrangements rather than God when you take part in corporate worship? Ask God to help you to focus on Him alone, and to teach you more about what it means to worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

Insight into Self-acceptance

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I am pleased to announce that my latest book, co-authored with the wonderful Chris Ledger, is available now. I am really proud of Insight into Self-acceptance, as I know how many of us still struggle to accept the love that God lavishes on us – often it is because we do not know how to love and accept ourselves.

In the book, we look at some of the enemies of self-acceptance, including shame, guilt, unforgiveness, our own inner critical voice and the internal scripts and rules we set for ourselves. Then we spend time exploring some of the tools we can all utilise in our daily lives, such as mindfulness, self-compassion, knowing who we are in Christ and thankfulness. Here is some info from the book’s jacket:

Many of us struggle to believe that we can be truly loved and accepted just as we are. Perhaps we know that God loves us, but are still striving to feel ‘good enough’. Understanding some of the obstacles to self-acceptance can lead to a breakthrough in our relationships with ourselves, with others, and with the loving God who already accepts us.

If you would like to find out more, or to buy a copy, please click here.

God reveals; we respond

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‘The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.’

Reflections based on Psalm 19:1–11

Going back through the books I have on worship, I was struck once more by how many of them focused on worship as a response to what we know about God. This makes so much sense as it is only out of revelation that we can make a heartfelt response. And yet how often do we try and worship out of a dry and unfed bank of revelation? One writer simply suggested that if we aren’t very good at worshipping it’s because we don’t know our God very well. Ouch. I know there are seasons in which worshipping is harder, and we will look at that specifically later on, but there is a basic truth to what they said.

So where should we go to find out more about God? His Word is the obvious place and a great starting point is the psalms, such as the one we’ve read today. It’s there that we learn of the absolute awesomeness of God and yet, more than that, are reminded that He knows even the number of hairs on our heads and wants a personal relationship with us. What incredible truths!

Spend some time soaking those truths in. The more science discovers about the universe the more we can be in awe of the God who, as Graham Kendrick’s song ‘The Servant King’ so beautifully describes, ‘flung the stars into space’*. And yet He also knows every intimate detail of our lives and wants to spend time with us.

I love the way that Psalm 19 paints such a vivid picture of how God’s own creation literally pulsates with the truth about Him – that everything reveals His glory. It also reveals how God’s laws and commands are ordered and right. That to me shows His care for humanity.

Meditation: Sit quietly and write down some of the things this psalm reveals to you about God. Try and write a response in the form of a prayer, thank you letter, psalm or song.

*Graham Kendrick Copyright © 1983 Thankyou Music/Adm. by Capitol CMG Publishing worldwide excl. UK & Europe, adm. by Integritymusic.com, a division of David C Cook songs@integritymusic.com Used by Permission.