Church choirs include many skill levels: exceptional singers who can sight-read music, some who follow others and eventually learn their parts, and some who “make a joyful noise,” Psalm 100:1. I have played each of these roles!
During one rehearsal I was at the top of my game: reading the music like I’d written it myself, turning through the coda, following the bass line like there was nothing else on the page. I knew when to get louder, softer, faster, slower. It was perfect execution. During a break, Charles spoke up next to me:
“Boy, look at those words. Don’t you know a man’s got to really be walking with God to write words like that?”
Suddenly I realized I had not thought about the words. I had to look back at the music to find out what we had been singing about. I had been so focused on perfect execution of the music, that I had never noticed the meaning of the words.
I had missed the point entirely.
When King David brought the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem, he danced—and his wife did NOT approve.
“Michal looked down from the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him” 2 Samuel 6:16. Michal told David he had made a fool of himself.
“I was dancing before the Lord who chose me … I WILL celebrate before the Lord, and I will humble myself even more … And Saul’s daughter Michal had no child to the day of her death” 2 Samuel 6:21-23.
God smiles on David’s worship, but frowns on Michal’s disapproval. God punished Michal with barrenness because she shamed David’s worship. Why barrenness? Because worship brings life and fruitfulness, but shame and judgment bring death. The queen’s haughty pride left her dead inside.
It is easy for me to get caught up in rules—the rules of music, the rules of how we do church—and miss true worship. Yet God is not interested in our rules, but our hearts.
ΑΩ
Household Words: 