This last week was my turn to write a post for our worship blog. We try to have these posts ready to go by Thursday evening, which would give me plenty of time throughout the week to craft a life-changing devotional for all of you to read...
But Thursday rolled around, and I had nothing! I had woken up that day with a scratchy throat and a stuffy nose. I tried all day to come up with a creative post, ultimately coming up short. The next few days played out to be a little rough. The head cold was now in full force, and Sunday morning was quickly approaching. I spent from Thursday evening to Sunday stressing. Stressing about the worship set, the quality of the music, how the congregation would respond in our worship time, and a hundred other little details — including my own ability to physically make it through all three services.
After a quick sound check Sunday morning, the worship team gathered in the back hallway and took some time to pray. It was in that prayer time that I had an “aha!” moment. I realized that until this point I had been relying on my own strength to get me through the last few days. I was relying on my own talents and abilities to lead the musicians and a congregation in a time of worship. I was relying on a pretty tired voice and an overworked immune system to get me through the next several hours. And in the midst of all of this, I had forgotten about God and his part of the equation — the entire equation. I had overlooked the very clear reality that God did not give us gifts and strengths so that we can rely on them in place of Him. Yet I had been doing just that, and was failing miserably.
As I finally surrendered my concerns and nervousness about my own physical strength, it felt as if a weight had lifted off of me. I realized that God never designed for me to carry the pressure of going on a stage to make worship "happen."
When you read the story of Gideon and the victory over the Midianites in Judges 7, God reduces the number of the Israelite soldiers from 32,000 to 300. The Midianite army was a strong 135,000 soldiers. God was very clear that his power and glory would be shown through this battle, not the power of man. With 300 men, God delivered the Midianite army into the hands of Gideon. I think that it's fair to say that Gideon had every right to be nervous, anxious, and afraid that those following him would think he was out of his mind. Once Gideon realized that God had never intended for him to fight this battle with his own strength and skills, even the strength and skills that God had given him, God was allowed to be shown glorious and victorious!
This past Sunday morning was one of my favorite times of worship that I have been a part of in some time. It was incredible to be a part of what God was doing in the heart of his church and Beaverton Foursquare's community through a time of lifting up the name of Jesus with one voice. This is in no way attributed to the skills or talents of a single person on that stage, but a testament of God's faithfulness and greatness, and a unified community of believers singing praise to that same God.
When we look to our own strength to accomplish the work of God, we will come up short every time. Just as God blessed Gideon with the ability to lead an army, he never intended for Gideon to solely rely on this human strength. God has blessed us with the gifts and talents that we all posses, but never intends for us to rely on such things in place of Him. He is a God who desires his children to seek him as Father, to put our faith and complete trust in him.
My prayer is that we continue to be the body of Christ that recognizes and uses the gifts that God has given us to glorify and advance his kingdom. Let's hold our gifts loosely in our hands before God, choosing to put our trust in him rather than those gifts.
I would never blame my procrastination on God; however, there is a big part of me that believes God has used the last several days of sickness and “blog post tardiness” to illustrate an essential truth about living a life of Christ-centered reliance.
Thanks for reading,
Ryan
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