One of the first words I learned to spell after my name was the Word B-I-B-L-E. This was due to a song I was introduced to in Sunday School, and my Mama sang it to me… a lot! Little did I know how true the words were and the role they would play in my walk of faith with Christ? The words go like this… “The B-I-B-L-E, Yes, that’s the book for me, I stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E.
This song emphasizes the importance of the principles of God’s Word in my life, but it would take me years before I matured in my faith to come to understand how important the Word of God would be to my worship experience. So much of the Christian worship experience, especially in the modern culture, is focused on music, but in all reality, God’s truth is the main entree, and music and singing are the side dish. The musical portion of worship is meant to draw us and prepare us for the deeper form of worship that is meant to be experienced in the sermon or sharing of the spoken message of the Bible.
While I know many folks would say they experience more worship through the music, the sharing of God’s Word takes us from our expression of praise to our Lord to His expression of His love and truth to us. I like to think of it as God’s solo time. The spotlight on Him conveys His encouragement and revelation of His character, as well as the affirmation of His faithfulness and love. His Word is a reminder of His worthiness, His reliability, and unchanging commitment in a fickle, fleshly world. God’s Word tells me of His history with mankind and His inexhaustible mercy, and the pervading theme throughout is His salvation and rescue through Christ, our Redeemer. If that does not result in worship, something is wrong in my life. While music invites participation, focusing on God’s word invites submission and can result in conviction and a deeper hunger for His transforming power in my life. This brings more joy. More joy gives birth to more praise. More praise draws me into closer fellowship and a desire to hear from the Lord without the distraction of my own voice and the voices of others. For me, it is the “Be Still and Know that I am God ” moment in the worship experience.
This is why, for me personally, preaching is at the top of the list when searching for a place to worship. I am a musician and began to play the piano at 3 years of age by ear, which in turn led my folks to put me in lessons immediately. I have had vocal training and know and understand what pitch and theory of harmonics, etc., but I can live with less-than-perfect music if the truth of God’s Word is being proclaimed from the pulpit or stage or platform or whatever we are calling it these days.
The church I am a member of has great musicians and singers, but I have told the pastor it is the preaching of the Bible that is holding me in my place. I love how overwhelming God’s truth is. I am awed by how He and His marvelous ways are revealed through scripture. I am invited to experience a taste of what Jacob declared when He awoke from sleep in Genesis 28. This was never more realized for me while worshipping in Peru in the small village of Pampilimai. My husband brought a guitar to a young man and taught him two songs to play. Obviously, they sang other songs but only had accompaniment to those 2 songs. For one year, they did those 2 songs every Sunday until we returned the next year, and Jim instructed Him in more. Most of us would wrestle with musical boredom; our entertainment-driven flesh would crave more stimulation. But Pastor Bonilla and his son-in-law did such preaching and declaration of God’s truth so simply that my heart fell before God in the way of worship I had never encountered. I realized that these folks had their priorities in order. They raised their hands, shouted Amen, nodded, and affirmed the truth of the Word of the Lord, and I physically could see the presence of the Holy Spirit on their faces! They worshipped through the Word! Just like Jacob, we knew God was in the place.
This is what happened in the book of Nehemiah when Ezra read from the law. The reading of the Word RESULTED in praise! Not the other way around. I can’t help but think what would happen if preaching came before music! Nehemiah records that the people bowed down and worshipped. Psalm 106 12 affirms this thinking by recording the people who believed His words were true and broke out in songs of praise!
So what would it look like in my life to worship more through God’s Word in the vineyard of daily life? For one thing, I made a commitment to listen more to the Word of the Bible. I downloaded an app from the NIV and frequently listen to verses or chapters( right now my close friends are scratching their heads about my technological advancements). I also committed to memorizing more scripture. I review songs and words of hymns without the music sometimes to absorb more of what they are really declaring about the Lord.
I don’t know about you but I need a refreshing from God’s Word. I need reviva! l need the type of worship that will result in total acknowledgement of Him and total submission of self.” God, stir me! Break me to bow my head and fall on my face. Let me forget the celebrity of the singer and be overwhelmed by who you are!” Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path that always leads me back to you Jesus!
Come back next time where the 5 o’clock worker looks at how worshipping through prayer can change our daily experience of the presence of God as the series on “The Way of Worship” continues.
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