When the worship service is over {Consistent daily life}
{Continuing our study of Psalm 27. We’ve looked at confidence,the fear of man,vision,beauty, worship, and facets of worship…welcome back!}
Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. (11-12)
We’ve come down off the mountaintop of worship into the daily grind of life. Sometimes this descent can be disturbing, abrupt, discouraging. Sort of like leaving an awesome Christian conference.
We’ve just had an encounter with God. He’s given us confidence and vision, He’s let us see His beauty and we’ve become enthralled in worshipping His name.
Now, this is the Monday morning of Psalm 27. For the six days where we do not meet for corporate worship, we need God to teach us to walk a level path. We desperately need consistency in order to remain, to abide, in His presence.
Few characteristics are more critical to the Christian life than consistency, or steadfastness, and therefore this will be the primary area where spiritual attack will occur. If the enemy of our souls cannot lead us into grievous sin he will at least try to keep us from consistently abiding in Christ. He will seek to make our lives haphazard.
Consistency, steadfastness, faithfulness, stability — these qualities aren’t touted and praised much in our culture. We’re told to do what feels good, follow your heart, indulge, let yourself loose.
And yet, growth or mastery in any area requires consistency. Any personal trainer will tell you that consistency is key. Running two miles every single day is better than running fourteen every Saturday. A steady, balanced diet over the long haul is better than a crash-diet to lose five pounds by this weekend’s wedding. Consistency is always the key. The level path.
Webster defines consistency as: marked by harmony, regularity, or steady continuity.
Wouldn’t it be a beautiful witness if our lives were marked by harmony, by regularity and steady continuity. If we moved between our work and church and family and friends in a seamless manner, not given to hypocrisy but characterized by integrity and wholeness. Consistency is what will take us from a rollercoaster of frustration and defeat to a level path of joy, peace, and purpose.
Let’s hold up the mirror of God’s Word and take an honest look at the consistent character and conduct of our lives.
Consistent Character:
- Joy: Am I steadfast in rejoicing? Am I deliberate every single day in choosing to rejoice despite my circumstances?
- Peace: Is my life characterized by anxiety or peace? What would my family, friends, co-workers say?
- Patience: Do I lose my patience in a check-out line or waiting in traffic? Do I show great patience for others and yet often snap or lose my temper with my family?
- Kindness: Do I show kindness to others only when others are looking?
- Goodness: What movies do I watch? What music do I enjoy? Would I be comfortable letting my pastor look through my internet history? Do I consistently set my mind on things that are good and lovely?
- Gentleness: Am I harsh or short with my spouse, roommate, kids, parents? Do I use sarcasm?
- Faithfulness: Do I follow through on my commitments even when it costs me something personally? When my circumstances change do I remain committed to my word? What kind of friend am I? What would others say?
- Self-control: Do I indulge myself when I’m alone in ways that I wouldn’t if others were around? Do I have a quick-tongue, always speaking my mind, or am I slow to speak?
Consistent Conduct:
- Do I show up on time for work? Do I often make others wait for me? Am I habitually late for meetings?
- Do I follow-through on my chores or work at home? Do others often have to pick up after me or cover for me?
- Do I have good personal hygiene habits? Do I exercise regularly? Do I eat a healthy, balanced diet?
- Do I attend church regularly? Do I tithe regularly? Do I read my Bible and pray regularly? Do I regularly meet with other believers for fellowship and accountability?
- Do I serve on a regular basis? Have I diligently explored ways that I can consistently use my time and talents to serve others and further God’s kindgom?
Am I someone who others can count on? Am I the same at work as I am at church? Do I have anything to “hide”?
All of us have areas of inconsistency in our lives. The key is remembering that in reality we always act in ways that are consistent with our beliefs. So if our actions aren’t lining up with what we say, chances are we don’t really believe what we say we believe. We always act out of what we believe. If we believe God is glorious and good and altogether sufficient, our actions will be wholly consistent with that. If we do not, in some measure, believe that, our actions will be consistent with that too. This is why all sin is a personal affront to God. It all comes from some area of unbelief.
So our job is to evaluate these areas honestly and ask God to show us where we have unbelief in our hearts. We can repent, turn, and be given a fresh measure of faith to overcome these areas of inconsistency in our lives. And we must do just that every single day.
{For today, what area of inconsistency is God putting His finger on? How can you agree with Him and ask for His grace to grow? He loves us too much to let us stay the same! Thank you, friends, for reading.}
What is worship? {four facets from Psalm 27}
[Continuing our study of Psalm 27. We’ve looked at confidence,the fear of man,vision,beauty, and the beginning of worship…glad you’re here with us today.]
And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD.
Here, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to You, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.“
Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O You who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! (6-9)
What is worship? Four things we find in this passage:
- Worship is sacrificial. “I will offer in His tent sacrifices…” Worship began with sacrifice. From Genesis chapter four on we see worship always include a sacrifice of some sort. Jesus fulfills the need for blood sacrifice but Romans 12 now tells us that our spiritual act of worship is the presenting of our bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1). Anything given up, gone without, laid down, or let go of for the sake of Christ rises as beautiful incense to His throne as an acceptable offering. David insisted that he would not offer to the Lord that which cost his nothing (2 Sam 24:24). In David’s mind worship always included cost or sacrifice.
- Worship is joyful. “… with shouts of joy.” Worship and despair cannot coexist. We cannot be grateful and anxious at the same time. We cannot worship God and willfully remain in a pit of sorrow. However, we also cannot worship God by detaching ourselves from our feelings. True worship feels. Often we enter into worship through despair, contrition, anxiety, pain, confusion, longing, desire, fear, but the consistent pattern of the Psalms shows every worshipper moving from these feelings and entering in to a rich encounter with God where these feelings are transformed into hope, joy, thanksgiving, awe, wonder, gratitude, peace, trust. The range of emotions we feel will be wide, but we must feel. To worship God without feeling is to “draw near with our lips” while our hearts are far from Him (Matthew 15:8-9).
- Worship is musical. “I will sing and make melody to the LORD.” God created music. Nothing moves the soul like music. Music wins battles (1 Chronicles 20), music changes feelings, music brings back memories, music lifts spirits, music elevates our mind from earthly things to the things of God. Nothing moves us like music moves us. We are wise to engage in music in order to move our hearts inline with God’s.
- Worship is prayerful. “You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek … forsake me not, O God of my salvation!” Worship without an encounter with God is not worship. It’s just noise. We can make great sacrifices for God, we can even be filled with emotion and be playing instruments beautifully and be carried up in the moment, but unless we actually have an encounter with the Living God true worship hasn’t taken place. David is offering joyful sacrifice and playing music, but He also is having a heart-conversation with God. God says to seek His face and David’s heart responds that he will. He speaks to God, cries out to God, is having a real, life, encounter with God. This is what separates Christian worship from a benefit concert. Both can make music and feel emotion and even inspire giving or some sort of action of sacrifice, but anencounter with God is what true worship is all about.
Which of these facets strikes your heart today? Is there one that serves as a helpful reminder? What would it look like for you to engage in worship today, throughout your day? Thanks for reading.
The only end in itself
[Continuing our study of Psalm 27. We’ve looked at confidence,the fear of man,vision and beauty…thanks for joining us.]
And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD.
Here, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to You, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.”
Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O You who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! (6-9)
A vision of the beauty of the LORD is what inspires true worship.
David has walked in confidence in the presence of his enemies, he has sought a single-minded vision of God’s abiding presence, and has drawn near to gaze up on the beauty of the LORD. And now that He has seen His God there is little to do but break into joyful and exuberant worship.
Though there’s more verses that follow, it could be that this is the holy crescendo of Psalm 27. Why?
Because worship is the only spiritual discipline that is an end in itself.
Worship is the only goal.
What is the “one thing,”what does it mean to be single-minded? If we are single-minded what is the single thing?
Worship.
Missions exist because worship doesn’t. We storm the 10-40 window because in it there are worshippers of God who are not yet worshipping. We sponsor children in Africa, orphans ravaged by the effects of AIDs, not simply to give them a better life but so they can see the goodness and mercy of our glorious God and rise to their feet in worship.
Christian fellowship is not the end goal, Christian education is not the end goal, financial stewardship is not the end goal, even evangelism and discipleship is not the end goal.
Worship is the goal. Our efforts at fellowship and education and stewardship and evangelism and discipleship are only as effective as much as they increase true worship of the One True God.
If our lives are not marked by an ever-increasing measure of true worship, then I wonder if we are connected to the Beautiful Vine? Perhaps we can even be kind people, patient people, generous people, and not be worshippers?
David was, first and foremost, a worshipper of God.
He reflected God so much that God said of David, “he has a heart like mine” (Acts 13:22).
Tomorrow we’ll look at the four-faceted vision of worship that David gives in this Psalm. For today, perhaps there is just one appropriate response?
Worship. {Thank you for reading.}
When there's just so much work to do
“Heidi, please pick up the puzzle pieces and put them in the box.” Dutch in his tigger-exuberance bounded down on the floor and began gathering up the pieces. Heidi sat next to him, mostly shuffling around the pieces while Dutch put them in the box.
“Done!” Dutch announced, beaming. Heidi sat and put her thumb in her mouth. I tried again.
“Heidi, please pick up that sippy cup on the floor and put it in the sink.” Dutch zoomed over like a racecar and swiped the cup, plopping it into the sink before Heidi could even register what I’d said. Her face began to register frustration.
One more time.
“Heidi, please put mommy’s shoes into the laundry room.” Dutch’s hand immediately became a pirate-hook as he exclaimed, “Argh!” and carried off the shoes, swinging by their buckles from his crooked finger. Heidi burst into tears.
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The problem is obvious, right? Even though Dutch’s intent was to be helpful he was actually disobeying because he was doing what I’d asked Heidi to do, instead of letting her do her jobs and experience the joy of fulfilling the work I’d given her to do. He was actually ignoring my commands simply because he failed to listen carefully.
I remember a friend telling me that the reason it’s so important to speak to kids in positive commands instead of saying “Don’t do such-and-such” is that they only remember the last part of what you say. If you say, “Don’t touch your brother,” all they remember is “touch your brother.” Ha! If you instead say, “Keep your hands to yourself,” they remember “hands to yourself.” Makes sense.
Well apparently the same thing is true with assigning chores. Dutch heard the command but apparently forgot the first part where I said “Heidi”! That’s a very important part of the command! The result was that Heidi was robbed of the joy of doing her work and I was frustrated and irritated instead of pleased by Dutch’s earnest efforts. Even though I truly think his heart was to be helpful he ended up doing more harm than good.
I wonder if we do that sometimes?
I wonder if it’s irritating to God when we run around eagerly doing other’s work instead of carefully listening to who He’s asking to do the specific job. Of course we’re all called to some things and we certainly don’t need to wait around and figure out whether we’re called to the Great Commission or the Greatest Commandment. Yep, those ones are for us.
But what about specifics? I wonder if sometimes we see a need and we’re the bouncing tigger bounding down, the racecar zooming in, the pirate with his hook ready to save the day rather than carefully hearing from the Master whose job it was supposed to be. Of course the opposite can be true too — we can just sit on the floor and suck our thumbs while everyone around us does the work. But that’s a lesson for another day…
Today I wonder, how can we be more attentive to the Father’s voice? When we see a need, perhaps we can hold tight just a split-second, long enough to check, “Is this ‘good work’ mine or someone else’s?” All our good works have been prepared in advance that we would walk in them (Ephesians 2:10). The only works we need to walk in are our own, because those are the ones created just for us. Just as Paul planted and Appollos watered (1 Corinthians 3:6) and just as Jethro encouraged Moses to appoint elders to judge the people, so we can rest in confidence when we’re doing exactly what the Father has asked of us.
My instruction to Dutch? “Please listen carefully to my voice and obey my words exactly.”
The application is clear, yes?
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{Is there anything in your life that perhaps might be the good works of someone else? How can you get alone with God today to be sure that all that you are walking in are the specially-created works for you? Thanks for reading, and God bless your day…}