Part 8 in the “Why We Do What We Do” series.
Distraction is part of being human. We see it when we drive a familiar route to work and upon arriving realize we can’t remember getting there because we’ve been basically on autopilot. We experience it when we read the same paragraph of a book over and over because our focus has repeatedly been lost halfway through. We are embarrassed by it when in a conversation our friend stops and asks, “So what do you think?” and we haven’t been paying close enough attention to even fake an answer. So it should not surprise us when we’ve just sung a song in church and we can’t even remember what it was about. This is part of the “frailty” that Scripture says God understands about us. But is it pleasing or acceptable to Him in our worship? No.
Jesus makes this clear when He says, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me” (Matthew 15:8). He is referring to people whose lifestyle is a constant disconnect between what they say and what they do, but as those whose desire is to always please the Lord, shouldn’t we strive to have fewer and fewer such moments of disconnect, especially in our worship?
Thankfully there are tools to help us. One tool we see in Scripture is repetition. Psalm 136 exclaims “His love endures forever” 26 times. In Revelation 4:8 we are told that the worshipers before the throne never stop saying “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” Repetition helps us to sit with a truth for awhile and bring our hearts in line with what we’re singing. The bridge of one of our songs says, “You were, You are, You will always be.” Can we ever really wrap our minds around this eternal truth?! After all, “How unsearchable are Your ways”! It’s not that we necessarily understand the phrase better each time we sing it; rather, we’re more and more in awe of the magnitude of what we’re singing! Or take another song lyric we sometimes repeat: “Thank You for the cross.” It’s one thing to casually tell someone “Thanks for that.” It’s quite another to stop and say, “No, really, thank you for what you’ve done for me, my friend. It means more to me than mere words can say. I don’t know how to say thank you enough.”
Another tool we find in Scripture is the Hebrew word “Selah” which we find used often in the Psalms. The NASB Study Bible notes explain that “Selah” may mean “pause, crescendo or musical interlude.” Psalm 3:2 says, “Many are saying of my soul, ‘There is no deliverance for him in God.’” Then it follows with “Selah” (dramatic pause . . . let this sink in . . . now listen up:) “But You, O Lord, are a shield about me . . .” So sometimes in the musical part of our Sunday morning worship time we will pause between songs, or even in the middle of a song, to pray silently or to reflect. Or other times we will have a short musical interlude, not so that the musicians can display their skill but so that our thoughts can be refreshed and refocused for the next words we sing. It’s our way of saying “Selah.”
A third tool that can help us stay focused in our worship is to stop the music for a moment and let the God-breathed words of Scripture speak for themselves. This is a powerful way to bring our thoughts back around to where they should be. A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of actually sitting in the pews and just soaking in the time of worship. When the worship team paused between songs and read with great expression Scripture after Scripture where God “opened the eyes” of one of His children, I was filled with hope that God still does this today. My heart was primed to hear what He would say to me through the sermon to follow. Scripture itself brought me to a place of great expectation.
These tools are only that — tools — to help us worship. None of them will be effective if we have no desire to enter into worship in the first place. But if we do come on Sunday mornings wanting to please the Lord in our worship, then His Spirit will use all of these things to bring our sometimes wandering thoughts right back to where they should be: glorifying and communing with Him.
Worshiping with you,
Jeanelle
