Heart Tracks - Crisis Worship

23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-34....."God is looking for those who will worship Him not only in spirit and in truth, but also in crisis." Chris Tiegreen...."Hope can see heaven through the thickest clouds." Thomas Benton Brooks

What do you think of when you hear the word "worship?" Sunday mornings and church platforms filled with singers and instrumentalists? Choirs raising their voices together in beautiful harmonies? Maybe it's the invitation to prayer, to gathering at the altar and bringing Him your burdens. Perhaps it's the reading of His Word, and the expounding of it from the pulpit. Maybe it's all of these, and it is all of these. But it is more than all of these. Worship of Him is not something we go to. Worship of Him is to be what marks our lives. To worship Him is to be intimately engaged with Him. Not just when we feel all the "elements" that make for it are present, but even when none of them are. Most especially, even when we are exhausted emotionally and physically, and spiritually spent. This is something of what it is to worship Him "in spirit and in truth."

We live in a fallen world, and its effects are going to be seen in all aspects of our emotional, physical, and spiritual lives. Every day is not a good day. Many can be bad ones. Some can be the worst ones. In those times we can fall victim to following our feelings rather than His Spirit. We can seek relief, escape, from other sources rather than the One who is our only Source. What is our response when the atmosphere, the music and singing, the voices and all that go with them are missing? What do we do when all of that is missing, as well as the feelings that can go with them, and all that is left is Him....and us? What do we do in the impossible place, the deadly threat, the place of crisis, where all seems a matter of life and death? Where it may well be a matter of life and death. Can we, in that place, in all places, worship Him?

I remember as a young preacher, hearing the wonderful Dr. Charles Strickland tell the story of another young pastor. A story of tragedy and worship. The man was driving with his family in the midst of a tremendous storm. Alongside the road ran a river, and as he drove on, the rain intensified and suddenly before him the road washed out, and his car was carried over the side and into the raging waters. Somehow, the man escaped the car, but he could not reach his wife and two daughters within, and the current carried them away to their deaths. I will never forget how Dr. Strickland framed the aftermath of that. The young preacher made his way to the banks and in the mud and mire, made an altar. In the shock, sorrow, and loss, he worshiped His God. With a sorrow felt beyond words, he worshiped. In the midst of the most terrible loss he could experience, he worshiped. That may be the clearest picture ever of what it is to worship Him "in spirit and in truth."

You and I will face our times of crisis. Likely many times. Can we worship Him there? In the loss of everything, can we still see through the pain, the tears, and all the emotions that come with them, and see Him? Can we, in that place, build our own altar to Him....and worship?

I love when the people of God come together and worship Him. When all the elements of what we call "worship" come together. Yet through the years I have discovered that my sweetest times of worship have been when it was only He and I, together. Times that often had the presence of loss, pain, sorrow. Times when I had to bring all of that to Him, build an altar there, and worship Him. In those places of crisis, there are only two things we can do; surrender to the feelings, or surrender them all to Him....in worship. Which will you be most inclined to do?

Blessings,
Pastor O