Rare Moments of Worship
[ APRIL 8, 2020 ]
This was originally written in February- just under a month before quarantine began.
I knew I wasn’t meant to share it then… but I had no idea how timely it would become.
I pray this encourages your heart and stirs your soul. This is, indeed, a rare moment.
We learn in church that worship is not just the music before the sermon- it’s a heart posture, it’s a way of life. We talk about giving Him our worship in the great moments and in the hard moments.
There are moments in life that are a set apart because they are “rare” moments- rare moments that we can choose to worship.
I’m a person of extremes- I feel like a day is either the BEST DAY EVER or the absolute worst… but the reality is that we live our lives mostly right in the middle of those options. Most days are fine; some are better than others and some are harder. We have happy days and we have sad days… and I want to be found giving Jesus all the worship that I can on those ‘normal’ days… but then there are ‘rare‘ days.
The details don’t matter for the sake of this post… but I recently found myself face to face with sorrow. I found myself deep in the swells of heartache.
As I felt the pain sink into my chest I felt a stirring in my spirit and I got behind a piano and began to weep before the Lord through song.
I’d love to say that all it took was that moment and I’m totally fine now.. but that moment was the first of many; sitting behind a piano, with my guitar, or curled up in bed… worshiping through tears.
When Mary of Bethany sees Jesus for the first time after her brother, Lazarus, has dies she falls at His feet and weeps and says, “If you had been here- my brother wouldn’t have died.” (John 11) Often we feel like a statement like that is accusatory… but it wasn’t. She is declaring who Jesus is even in the midst of sorrow- in the swells of heartache.
The sorrow Mary was faced with was a rare moment in her life.
That rare moment that she chose worship in lead to an incredible display of the glory of the Lord.
The season I find myself in, although it can feel endless, is in fact ‘rare.’ One day, I’ll look back on it as just a moment in my story- it’s not the place from which I will live out my life.
The Lord is showing me that there is something so incredible about choosing worship in the rare moments of life. We give something unique to Him when we worship Him through them. We gain something unique in the Spirit, also.
When we lift our tear-filled eyes, open our once tightly gripped hands, and confess that He is good and that He is trustworthy and that He is always more than enough in the rare moments- we find ourselves going deeper into intimacy with Him than we’ve ever gone before.
From this place, He deposits many worthwhile things deep within us.
He anchors us with steadfast hope.
“We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” – Romans 5:3-5
He draws closer to us.
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” – Psalm 34:18
He gives us eyes to see that we are becoming like Him in experiencing what He experienced.
“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” – Isaiah 53:3
The list could go on endlessly.
Beloved friends, lets choose worship in the rare moments. The sorrow, the pain, the ache you are feeling will not last but while it is here- choose to worship through it. Choose to let it bring you back to His feet, weeping while you declare who He is.
He is near.
