I was struck deeply one day by a story I heard from a friend of mine. It was about worship.
I’m not talking about the act of worship, which I’m sure has different meanings to many of us. Some think of the music portion of a church service or perhaps music that moves you deeply when alone with God. That’s what I always thought of it as. And there is nothing wrong with any of our perspectives of worship. But I found a deeper worship after I heard his story.
It went something like this:
My friend was in a country in Africa. A small village. A group of people who worked hard physically and also held a deep love of God in their hearts.
One day my friend was helping to shovel sand/dirt into or out of a truck. He worked alongside a man he was growing a close relationship with. The African man was able to shovel hard and fast. My friend, quite physically competitive by nature, saw it as a competition. The harder his African friend worked, he worked harder, and harder. Faster and faster. He realized that no matter how fast he shoveled his friend got more accomplished.
This frustrated my friend. So much that he stopped shoveling and grabbed his friend and tossed him on the ground. He asked the African how he can shovel so much more than him?
The lovely man from the village took my friend up a hill nearby that overlooked a field. There, below them, was a man plowing a field with his beast in tow. He simply told my friend to look at the man working the field. That is his worship. The shoveling I do is my worship to God.
That simple act of doing what you do. Very possible doing what you were created to do……. that is your Worship to God.
I thought long and hard and deep on this one. I’ve been a worship leader, guitar in hand, etc. But when this story penetrated my heart I realized that there is more to worship than I was taught or shown.
I realized that this journey with God that I have been on has been my worship. The molding and shaping He is doing in me and the revealing of my true self and who He created me to be – the talents, the personality, the gifts, the skills, the whatever – this is my worship to Him.
This is by far one of the most freeing experiences I have ever come to realize. And I don’t feel that I’ve totally grasped the deepest meaning. I am so caught up in my discontents in what He has me doing at this point in my life that I do believe I miss the wonderful, loving, truly joyful act of worship with Him – my life that He gave to me.
Find your worship, Dear Reader. I guarantee that you will find peace and love and joy when you do.
(also posted on https://churchsetfree.wordpress.com/category/cate-b/ )
Cate B
A simple song by Misty Edwards:
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