My whole school career, I was the weird kid who hated summer. Seriously. I mean, both my parents are teachers, so every day of summer was filled only with my parents, generally without seeing my school friends for the two months we had to be apart before we were coerced into entering school once again. But every year, when summer was over, I felt incredibly changed and regretful to see the summer fade away. As I grew older, I realized that the boredom and loneliness provided an atmosphere NECESSARY to change. Solitude creates a time to just listen to what God has to say and allow Him to work without our stupid human interruptions of doubts and fears. This realization made me see that, while sometimes painful, summer is my time to run back to the Father that I so often push aside when faced with the struggles of daily life throughout the year.
So, when this summer started, I began praying that God would use these months to turn my heart back to him and get my mind in the right place before I got to the big bad world of college. And, up until MPH Camp (see photo albums for that AMAZING BLESSING, I'm not gonna go on a tangent in this note :D), I felt like I was playing the part of good Christian girl, fervently seeking God simply by reading a chapter of the Bible every night and falling asleep while mumbling a typical, generally selfish prayer. Then, camp. There are so many amazing, beautiful things that occurred at camp, but one of my favorite times of each day was doing a little Bible study and music time with Whitney! (Whit you are freakin awesome and you have no idea how much you inspire me :D) She makes me think and actually use my brain concerning God and His power, instead of just thinking about my Father and moving on with my life. We talked a lot about worship and other such matters, and the verse that stuck out in my mind throughout the week of camp was Romans 8:18: "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."(NKJV) Reading this verse made me realize that all the little, useless crap that we obsess over and spend our lives worrying about...really doesn't matter when stood next to an eternity with God and the things He has planned for our lives. This last sentence could branch into a whole different sermon, but sticking to my point! I realized that most of my time lately has been spent thinking about me, alone. "God, this is what I want" "God let me do this" etc. And it made me think, in eternity, we will spend forever before the throne of our Savior, worshipping. How much worshipping have I done on the earth, how much time of my life has really been spent in awe and adoration of my Lord and Savior? Thus began the learning, running to God part of summer. I began to ponder what exactly was required for a true heart and spirit of worship. As I prayed for wisdom, God granted it. In various Bible passages and worship songs I have come to this conclusion: Humility is the key to pure, raw, unashamed worship.
Enter the music part. Every summer, I inadvertently pick a single CD and listen to it every day of the season until I know it backwards and forwards. This summer's CD is made up of Jon Foreman's 4 Seasons EPs. 24 songs, 6 per season based on the changes and turns in a year in a life. While every song is not directly written about God, it has the most worshipful music I have found in a long time. The lyrics of these songs, combined with Bible passages in 2 Chronicles (of all books!), have led me to a desire for more Jesus and have filled each and every day with a desire to worship. I doubt anyone will ever read this, but if you do? I felt compelled to chronicle some of these worshipful lyrics with the discoveries I have been making in my Bible studies. If you get nothing out of this crazy-long note, I am writing it so that when those desolate Decembers come...I can remember how much God has done in my life, and remember this little key to humility that is required by my Savior.
So for the lyrics? In "Lord, Save Me From Myself", Foreman sings about how the world has so much to offer, but only God can save him from his selfish desires. I don't know about you, but I believe that going before an omnipotent, omniscient God and telling him your flaws, telling him your weaknesses, and, though undeserving, believe that He will grant the grace to free you from your weaknesses...if that isn't humility at work, I don't know what is. Swallow your pride and run to God, He's waiting to save you.
"Baptize My Mind" requests a renewing of the mind and heart that can only come from God. Foreman says "Baptize my mind, baptize my eyes. For these seeds to give birth to life, first they must die." What is more humbling than a desire for the seeds of your thoughts to die so that you can see God in a whole new way?
One of my favorite songs on the album is "Your Love is Strong", which is based on the Lord's Prayer. My favorite line is "Heavenly Father, You always amaze me!" When is the last time you were amazed at God and His power??
"Resurrect Me" is a song for humility. "I've been counting up the cost of getting up on that cross..." To truly give ourselves to God, we have to crucify our old selves and allow God to make us new :)
The song that hits closest to home is "Instead of a Show". Written from God's view. It's about how we like to look like perfect little Christians and do all the good things visible to man, but in reality, it's just a show. Being a Christian is more than just going to church and looking good. As God's children we should "Give love to the ones who can't love at all, give hope to the ones who have no hope at all, and stand up for the ones who can't stand at all".
"White as Snow", based on a Psalm 51. David showed absolute humility by asking God to "Have mercy on me Oh, God, according to your unfailing love, according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgression". What is more humbling than admitting your faults to the savior of the world??
The final song I reference is "Again". "Oh, Lord, God of the nations, This day let it be known that You are God of the present tense...Let the people know that You are turning the hearts back to You."
The last bit of lyric brought me to a verse in 2 Chronicles 29:36. "...all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people [for worship]." God prepares us for worship. How crazy is that? God of the universe prepares our tiny hearts for worship to Him. Pretty deep, humbling stuff there...
But can worship really be a powerful force? Check out 2 Chronicles 20. Pretty long (like this note is becoming) so I'll summarize. The forces of Judah were being challenged to battle by other nations. King Jehoshaphat inquired the Lord as to what should be done, and God told him to have the army stand still and wait. Remember, these are warriors. Glory comes from battle, yet the Lord told them to stand still? But instead of being angry, the army did something unexpected. The seasoned warriors put down their weapons and bowed down, worshipping God in a loud voice. Once they had humbled themselves and acknowledged that God was their king...ambushes attacked the enemies and wiped them out completely. The army may not have gotten the glory of battle, but they witnessed first-hand the glory of God!
My final inspiration on worship is towards the Levites. This isn't a reference verse, just a thought I've been having. These people, their job was to worship the Lord. Day in and day out, no matter their mood or personal desires. They couldn't just pretend to worship--their "boss" could se their hearts. So how did they worship God as a job? I believe they had a heart and spirit of worship, and I pray that through the course of my life, God can instill in me a heart and spirit of worship, too, so that I can continue falling in love with Him all over again.
God Bless,
Katie
P.S. If you read to the end, wow. Kudos to you, sorry for the extreme rambling that accompanies my facebook notes! :)
P.S.2 You should check out Jon Foreman's Seasons EPs! Just type in his name on itunes :) I promise, it's a CD you won't regret spending money on :D
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