1Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Psalm 95:1-7
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Let me ask you a question. Hymn or worship song? Book in your hands or words up on a screen? Piano, organ, or electric guitar? While I like both I do have a preference. Say what you will but a full worship band crying out to God to the tune of a new generation is fun for me! For others, it’s an organ or piano and choir pumping out the song that their grandparents sang to God. Both styles of musical worship have great value.
What about when a contemporary band plays a beautiful hymn from 200 years ago and sticks to the tune and inspired lyrics, but does it with a keyboard, guitar, and drums? That’s fun too! With so many options at our fingertips to sing at church, in our car, or any time we please the real question is, what about the lyrics? Instead of filtering our preferences through the age and style of music, shouldn’t we first filter through the quality of the message?
Earlier this year God showed me something. My worship life was in full swing and was a daily practice that I enjoyed and was committed to. There was just one problem. So many of the songs I was drawn to and had on repeat were incredibly self-centered. All they did was talk about me, and who God made me to be, and what He had done for me. Understand me, they were accurate and Biblical. Many had scripture in them but my focus in worship was mostly on me and I was suddenly aware.
What is interesting is that during this self-centered worship, I truly did feel God’s presence. I felt loved and connected and He did awesome things in my life. Why? Perhaps I was deceived but also because God’s so good and He knew my intentions were not evil. I was spending much of my time in worship worshiping myself and the benefits of Christianity without realizing it and Jesus met me where I was, but time was up. It was time to pour out my worship only on God.
A week after this change in focus I went to a conference. It was an amazing group of women who loved Jesus and loved us, and the worship was all about… us. They were playing all my favorite songs, but now that God had opened my eyes, I had a challenging time singing the lyrics and worshiping at the same time. I just stood there like a spectator while God barely came up in the songs! I saw women so deeply in love with Jesus and talking mostly about humans. It was almost scary, and I did my best to keep my mouth shut, knowing that just a few days ago I was caught in the same thing. I was jealous for God.
My worship playlist shrunk to one song. What a Beautiful Name was the only song I felt like I could sing for the next month. I spoke to Jesus over and over again about who He was and what was so wonderful about Him. How He had no rival or equal and how I loved Him so much that even His name was precious to me. I’m sure my kids and husband appreciated hearing it over and over and over. If it was a cassette tape, I would have needed a new one by the end of that period.
Slowly but surely, I added good songs to my worship time. Holy Holy Holy, Holy and Anointed One, How Great Thou Art, Worthy of It All, I Exalt Thee, and Goodness of God. Each went through a strict screening. How often was I mentioned? Who was the main subject? Is the focus who He is or what He can do for me? What did God want me to sing to Him?
I am not saying that there is something wrong with songs that thank God for what He has done for us, and the songs that petition God for help. The book of Psalms is chock-full of amazing examples of how to cry out to God and how to thank Him well for the amazing things He has done for us. If it was good enough for David and the nation of Israel then it’s good enough for me. I also value the songs that help train us to be who we are now that we are His children. I just want to sing these songs less often than the ones that glorify God for who He is. I also want to ensure corporate musical worship is first and foremost worship.
After months of very narrow focus, I felt the tension ease up. I feel like God has purified my worship of Him and now I can talk about the wonderful things He has done for me, but the focus is in the right place, on Him. There is a place in my worship for testimony of what He has done for me, but it always comes after the pure worship of the Great I AM. There’s no end to God’s amazing attributes so if I never make it to the song about who God made me to be that’s okay. I can focus on a more worthy subject. God. Not everyone needs this course correction, but I did so I know I’m not alone.
No surprise, God’s timing is good, because during that time I was starting a “worship and prayer” group for women during our children’s program at church. Each Wednesday night I would have led them straight into self-worship if God had not corrected my path at the right time. God also showed me through a dream how to start teaching my children to worship Him and we started sitting down as a family to sing to God. We barely come up during this time.
There are good things, and there are better things. When Mary sat at Jesus’s feet instead of working it was the better thing (Luke 10). When Abel brought the fat portion of the firstborn of his flock it was better (Genesis 4). There are no better styles of musical worship, there is only better worship. A heart that is turned to God and wide open, and eyes that are locked on Him. He has an opinion on how we worship Him. Do we care?
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