Sometimes It's Easy

Sometimes I get into worship and I'm SO excited! I sing, I shout, I even dance a little. Maybe I jump; we do that at our church and it's OK. I get so into the music! And then I realize something: I'm totally into the music, but I'm not really focusing on God like I think I should. Then I have to figure out what to do.

Do I keep jumping and dancing and singing? Do I stop, close my eyes and refocus? Do I quit entirely because it's a failed attempt at worshipping? Well, sometimes I do stop momentarily and try to refocus, but sometimes I refocus on the fly. Do you know why? Because if God didn't want us emptionally involved, He wouldn't have couched worship in music. Music is there for emotional manipulation of human beings, period. We can worship God with words only and no melody; I've done it lots of times. But God has ordained music: singing, musical instruments. They're all through the Bible. Sometimes I wonder if there is really a spiritual dimension to music itself, or if it's just the key that unlocks the door between human beings and God's spiritual reality.

7So I firmly believe that there is absolutely nothing wrong with getting emotionally involved with the worship music you are singing. But I do think if you allow yourself to be emotionally involved with the music only, you are on shaky ground, so when I find myself going there I make a great effort to focus my heart on what the music and lyrics are saying and not just the sounds themselves. I would say that if you are singing worship songs and enjoying the music, but your focus is not 100% where you would want it to always be, you are far better off than if you sat down and didn't participate. Yesterday my post talked about obedience; we worship partly out of obedience to God, and that is what the "sacrifice of praise" is. It's okay to enjoy the music! It's okay to have fun in the worship service. That's what music is for! But struggling shouldn't be part of it. If you're fully engaged in the song service but feel like you're struggling to get in touch spiritually with what's going on... sometimes it helps to just stop struggling. Participate with your whole heart in the music and remember what you're there for. Sometimes you'll find that God comes to you instead of you struggling to break the surface and get to Him!