WAIT!

Psalm 27:13 and Psalm 28:6

"I remain confident in this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord
Be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord. "

"Blessed be the Lord
Because He has heard my cry for mercy!
The Lord is my strength and my shield.
My heart trusted in Him and I am helped."

Man! This follows up on the last post so well. If you did not read that one: it emphasized the need to keep on coming back to God, even in difficult circumstances. Here we can read something similar. I just love Psalm 27. I know I might be repeating myself, but it's so personal. In verse 5 it says that He keeps us safe in days of trouble. That He hides us and gives us shelter. In verse 10 we can read that our Lord receives us even when nobody around us does. He loves and accepts unconditionally.

Psalm 28 paints a great picture again. In the first verses David cries out to God. He asks God to not be silent and to hear him when David cries out for help, which is exactly what God does. We need to be persistent in our prayer, and in our worship. Then this encouragement is amazingly good: Be strong, take heart and wait for the Lord.

I believe something powerful happens when we wait for God to move. Sometimes we, especially us musicians, tend to go through our set list and play great music. Which is good of course. But what is our attitude in worship? Miracles do not happen because of great solos. They happen when God shows up. In John 6:5 Jesus asks Philip where to buy bread, when the multitude comes. Jesus already knew what was about to happen though. In worship, it is imperative to wait on God and to know, be expectant of what is about to happen. And create space for God to move. God knows what he wants. He also wants us to cooperate.

So just be encouraged by this. He will show up. He wants to be involved like that. He hears your call. But let me also challenge you. How much space do you allow Him to move in?

Keep coming back!

Psalm 22:21b

You have answered me!


Last post was about putting God in the right context and making God personal. This post continues on that. For me, Psalm 22 is pretty intense. David is explicit when talking to God here:

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
² O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.

and

⁶ But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised by the people.

and

¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It has melted within Me.
¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.

These are intense things to say to God. We grow up thinking we always have to be respectful to God and of course that is true. I do think though that most of all we have to be honest. God showed us that He wants a personal relationship with us by giving us His Son. Jesus showed the greatest love of all by offering himself up for our sins. One of the least things we can do is be honest about what we think and feel! He can handle it.

That is not the only aspect that gives David breakthrough and new inspiration. He is honest to God, but still comes back to God to give Him honour. "You are  holy." He still asks God for help. Despite his circumstances he still trusts in God. When the circumstances are extremely peril and David doesn't have anywhere to go but to God..

He answers.

God answers. The tone in verses 22-31 is so different. David has found new life and new inspiration. When we are in worship or when we are praying, do we tell God literally everything? Do we allow God to work with our deepest thoughts and inner feelings? Do we give God glory even though the breakthrough hasn't happened yet and do we trust Him completely? Do we keep coming back to God with everything that's happening? This all takes time, but I think that if we do, there is a whole new space for us to enter into in our prayer lives and worship moments. Because God will answer you.

L

The right context

Psalm 20

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble;
May the name of the God of Jacob defend you;
² May He send you help from the sanctuary,
And strengthen you out of Zion;
³ May He remember all your offerings,
And accept your burnt sacrifice. Selah

⁴ May He grant you according to your heart’s desire,
And fulfill all your purpose.
⁵ We will rejoice in your salvation,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.

⁶ Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
With the saving strength of His right hand.

⁷ Some trust in chariots, and some in horses;
But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
⁸ They have bowed down and fallen;
But we have risen and stand upright.

⁹ Save, Lord!
May the King answer us when we call.

Oh man, this Psalm is such a good start to the week. This is such a beautiful blessing. More than it just being a beautiful psalm, I think there are some lessons that we can draw from this. Also because I think this book can be potentially mega powerful, if we just understand some of the principles behind it.

First of all, this is David speaking out of his personal life. Not specifically in this chapter, but throughout this book we can see David calling out to God, calling God his Shepherd, his Fortress, his Stronghold, the Deliverer who shatters his enemies. He does so in his own personal time with God. This is actually how he worships God. And very importantly he calls God how he sees him. How he experiences God in times of hardship. We should think about how we experience God and how we call God. As a city boy, it is hard to see God as a shepherd even though I understand the principle. In modern times I don't even know if I'd like to see God as a Deliverer who shatters my enemies, even though He can. God saved me from addictions and past experiences, so I will call Him Saviour. And I know He will be a Saviour to my friends and family as well. I know that God has guided me to the place I am today, therefore He is my Guide.

I love reading Psalms and I love to sing worship songs about God being my Shepherd, moreover I have written said songs myself. But I also think now it's very important to put God in the right context, to acknowledge everything He has done and will do and give him the right place in your life to work His miracles. It's time to put Him in our own context, just like David did.

A heart of worship

Psalm 132:7 "Let us go into His tabernacle, let us worship at His footstool." (AMP)

The last weeks we have been talking with our Heart of Worship band about our attitude in worship. There is so much power in worship. Why? Simply because God loves it. Being around the presence of God is powerful stuff. In Revelations 4 John describes how angels constantly sing "Holy Holy Holy is the Lord Almighty, Who was and Who is and Who is to come." There is a constant atmosphere of worship in heaven. You might describe that worship has the potential to bring the atmosphere of heaven to earth. In any way, it is incredibly powerful.

There are so many 'ingredients' to create an atmosphere of worship. In earlier posts I talked about God's unfailing love for us. I think that our worship has to be a response to His love. God will always love us, and our worship is a step towards God. A heart and attitude that is totally focussed on him is so important. There is no such thing as half worship or indecisive worship: worship is full-on.

In Matthew 28:17, it says that the eleven disciples went to the mountain as Jesus had told them and when they saw Him, some worshipped and some doubted. Now the Greek word for worship here is proskyneo, which means to worship or kneel down; total surrender. To enter in God's presence it is so important to lay down everything. Lay it all down at the cross. In Psalms it is described how David used to cry out to God. You don't cry out with half of your heart. Don't worship with half of your heart either. Next time your worshipping at home or in church, put aside what your going through and surrender. God knows what your going through. Surrender and give him your all.

His Love Never Fails

L