Fearfully

It could be argued that the fireworks that happened last Sunday actually started the Friday before (although there have been rumblings for some time). This summer in June, July and August, WAM set aside the last Friday night of each month as semi-private worship nights. Anyone was actually welcome, but private in the sense that it wasn't something publicly advertised to the rest of the church. The reason was that our leadership felt that we needed some time to worship and draw close to God not as worship leaders, but just as a team of worshippers (if you've ever tried to lead worship, you know that it's not really quite the same thing). Each of those nights has been powerful, and I believe each was a step toward where we are now and where we're headed.

This particular third WAM worship night, Cathy and I had brought our two kids along. The other two times they had stayed with their Meme, but this time we kept them with us. Mikey (the 8-year-old) was pretty good, mostly keeping quiet and either playing his Nintendo DS or joining in on the prayer time. Hannah, the 8-month-old, was kind of a different story. Of course you can't expect an infant to be silent! Most of the night I was holding her, keeping her plugged with a binky ("pacifier" to those of you who may be binky-impaired!), and just walking with her. I was participating in what was going on, but I was physically sort of separate most of the evening. Which was OK; I really felt impressed that Cathy needed the time to be involved without interruption. So I was praying along and praising along and whatever, and something kept coming to mind. As I worship God, I try to let my spirit flow out with things about God from the Word... "Lord, you are beautiful, and You are powerful. Lord, your presence is here to heal. Your presence is here to supply all of our needs according to Your riches in glory..." and on and on. Well, this night I kept saying "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." I couldn't even remember if that was actually a praise and worship Scripture. I couldn't even remember where in the Bible it was! But it kept coming up. Afterward I looked it up, and it turns out it is right in the middle of Psalm 139:

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. -Psalm 139:14

So it is a worship Scripture! I began to read through the rest of the passage, which is along similar lines, and I realized that although the rest of the passage is about "me" (about how God made "me" and about how I could never hide from the presence of God even if I wanted to), that is the first verse in that Psalm that begins with the word "I". And what does "I" do? I praise Him, but I don't just praise Him because I want to. I praise Him because "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

Suddenly it struck me... I don't just praise Him because I think it's cool that I'm around. I praise Him because I am a fabulous, God-created creature, and one of the "wonderful" features that is built in to me is that I have the capacity to praise Him! How amazing is that? I praise Him not just because I like to, but because it is a primary function of me as a human being. When I praise God, I am doing something I am explicitly designed to do. Isn't that cool?