How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? -Psalm 137:4Worship.
What is the goal of worship? What gives our worship wings to soar above this life? What drags worship into the bog and makes it stagnant and paralyzed?
I'm going to make a bold statement that might surprise some. I'm in the bog.
Oh, I don't mean me personally. Not at this moment, at least. I am happy to be growing in the Lord and learning to have a heart of worship. He is so sweet! Whether it be a word of Scripture, a great book, a beautiful song, or a precious part of his creation, God has definitely been teaching me to worship him.
I'm talking about a part of the Body of Christ that I have been a part of for quite a few years. And as strange as this may sound in this culture of loneliness, if my brothers and sisters in Christ are in the bog, than so am I. I will be until God lifts us out, cleans us off, and raises our helpless body to the sky to soar on wings like eagles, for truly he is the only one who can stir our hearts to worship him.
But how He will do that I'm at a loss to imagine. Things have gone on for so long without being addressed that there is a festering wound. We've lost precious time and even some parts of our body. If I thought for one moment that man was in charge, my faith would falter.
But men aren't in charge. Christ is. And Christ cared so much for this body that he went and gave up his own just so we could know peace. Just so we could worship in freedom and joyful abandon. So I wait with expectant hope. God will act. Just wait and see. He won't let his beloved one die. Even if we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we'll make it.
We'll worship again.
I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; before the gods I will sing your praise. I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.
When I called, you answered me. You made me bold and stouthearted. May all the kings of the earth praise you, O LORD, when they hear the words of your mouth. May they sing of the ways of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD is great.
Though the Lord is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me, The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever -
Do not abandon the work of your hands.
-Psalm 138
1 comment:
This is exactly what I needed to read right now, as "the bog" is stifling me at the moment and it's tempting to feel clueless and hopeless. Good to know that God doesn't feel that way.
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