Scripture
My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” Psalm 27:8

Observation
More is recorded in the Old Testament about David than any other character and his name is the last name mentioned in the Bible. The reason why is condensed in this one verse: My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” What causes David to stand out among the three greats of the Old Testament was his relationship with the Lord and his ability to communicate that with others. Abraham had a friendship with God, but he related to God more like a business partner and we don’t see much of his heart. Moses saw God face to face, but we read more of the laws God gave him than their personal relationship.

David, however, left the windows and doors open to his most personal experiences of God so that we can enter into the same relationship ourselves.

It begins with God’s pursuit of David and of us. We are naive to think that we think of God first. The fact is, whenever we consider the Lord and desire him it is because he has been lonely for us. God desires conversation with us. He wants to talk with us.  He who is limitless wants to know about our finite lives; we who are bound are to be stretched into the boundless mind of God. God stoops low to meet with us and crouches into our existence because of his great love for us; we are carried further than the most distant star and deeper than the earth’s core when we enter into the mind of God.

What set David apart from most human beings is that he answered the call of God. He said, “Lord, I am coming.” He did not dismiss God with a yawn or place him on hold. He spontaneously bounded toward the Lord even as the Lord sprinted toward him. That is a relationship of love.  It was William Barclay who said, “The kingdom of God is not for the well intentioned but for the desperate.” There is one phrase that will keep us from knowing what David knew: “just a minute”. The presence of God is like a sunrise or sunset, for we have just a brief window to enjoy it. Often he will not linger to pander to our indifference.

Application
How many times in a day does the Lord nudge me with his presence? More than I consider. I cannot be passive; I must be active.  I must pursue him even as he pursues me.

Prayer
Father, today as I sense you playing tag with my soul, let me bound toward you. Amen.

Reinhardt Bonnke Crusade in Nigeria with over 1 million attending

Scripture

After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: “Hallelujah!” Revelation 19:1

Observation

Dark was the night but the the humidity was visible in the steamy room. I was squeezed in an tin shed with nearly 1,000 boisterous people sharing sweat and praises in Papua New Guinea. I had seen missionary slides as a kid but none of them were scratch and sniff so they didn’t prepare me for the worship fragrance of a congregation without deodorant.

The smell faded as I listened to one chorus they belted out with special gusto. I recognized the word “USA” and “Australia” so I leaned over to the Caucasian standing next to me and asked for a translation. The words went something like this:

The USA, Australia and PNG will all be destroyed,
But the kingdom of God will last forever.

Something told me this song wouldn’t make it from PNG to the charts in America. The people exalting around me obviously meant what they were singing and didn’t seem bothered by the implication. They seemed at ease with the thought of the collapse of everything I knew and held dear because they loved Christ that much.

I knew my heart needed help. I wasn’t sure I could sing that song with such abandon. But when I read Revelation 19 that’s exactly what the survivors of the end will do. From heaven rings a great “Hallelujah!” We cannot imagine how deafening that will be. We’ve all heard Handel’s “Halleujah Chorus”. What exactly is all of heaven hallejuahing about anyways? The context says it is the destruction of the world economic, political and religious system that stands opposed to Christ. These people are obviously not addicted life. They hold things loosely so they can grasp Christ tightly and so they sing “Hallelujah” while the shopping malls I know and hold dear burn in the last inferno of history.

Application When I read this prayer of Revelation I wonder if all of my life I should be trying somehow to harmonize with this future hallelujah from heaven? One day it will come my turn to sing. Will I be able to triumph in God over the destruction of what grieves him or will I be fishing out burning valuables from the fire?

Now is my turn in life to live detached. There are many things in this life that can detract me from being loved by Christ alone. My call is to separate myself from them and to attach myself completely to Christ.

Prayer Father, I know that today I’m tuning up to audition for the choir of heaven. Help me to be ready to sing “Hallelujah” about the things that cause you to rejoice. Amen.

Scripture

“You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.” Acts 7:51-53

Observation

Stephen’s sermon is so eloquent that it’s hard to remember the guy is on death row approaching the electric chair, in a manner of speaking. The last words Stephen spoke on the courtroom floor are the most remarkable. Around Stephen is a swirling chaos of fists, spit and stones, but at the center is a man having an epiphany. It’s like a melodramatic scene from 1950′s Bible flick. Stephen is gazing toward heaven, a spotlight warms his face, a beatific smile illumines his visage and he swoons at the sight of Jesus.

Stop, stop, stop! This is the sort of thing that should happen in a sanctuary and not in the witness stand. How did Stephen manage to see such a remarkable sight in the midst of chaos?

Here’s the secret: Stephen had learned to worship in extreme conditions. He had learned to be comfortable with adrenaline, push it aside and to see the Saviour’s face. His story would not be told if it were not a model for us as well.

Do you know the taste of adrenaline? Have you felt the dizziness of a surge of blood pressure? Can you hear the ringing in your ears as the blood vessels swell? Have you sensed the out-of-body experience as you stand before those you fear to hear a voice speaking and wake up mid paragraph to discover it is you? We’ve all been in pressure points. Stephen’s is an extreme. But here’s the point: have we learned to live as Stephen learned to die? Have we learned how to look up in pressured circumstances and to worship the God of heaven?

Application

Stephen’s poise under pressure is not an ideal but a possibility. There are pressured moments in life when we too are placed on the spot. It is then that choices we make can open up our relationship with Christ. I remember reading about the Christian leader Polycarp (his name does not mean ‘many fish’ but that’s another story). Polycarp was on his way to be burnt at the stake, but he asked the arresting officer if he could have time to pray. He asked for a meal to be brought to his executioners and he went to an upstairs room where he methodically prayed for each of the churches he oversaw. It’s no wonder that at the stake, when Polycarp was asked to turn his back on Jesus, that he had the presence of mind to say, “I’ve served him 86 years and he’s never failed me, how can I be unfaithful to the one who has loved me so?” (That’s my paraphrase.)

Worship can happen anywhere, even under pressure. It requires me to become comfortable with uncomfortable emotions, to walk through stress rather than trying to neutralize it, and to look for Jesus in the most unlikely places.

Prayer

Father, I can’t say that I’m there yet with this one, but I’m certainly learning. I’ve had several lessons this last year. I expect there will be more. Help me to look up rather than looking down in these pressure points and help me to break through emotions that I fear into an experience of you too great for words so that I can say what must be said even in the most difficult times. Amen.

Here I am with my sons Levi and Jon. We had climbed Mt Warning all night long in the dark to see the first sunrise to touch Australia.

Scripture

The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. John 4:23

Observation

IIs God an egotist? One blogger on a news story I read this week thinks so. I was scanning an online report about intercity youth on a government program being taught how to sing gospel style music. The bloggers after the story were caught up in a vortex of argument between Christians and skeptics about worship. One nonbeliever suggested that God was egostical because he enjoys the praises of his people.

What’s the truth? Anyone who suggests that God is egostical is making the Lord out to be something like an inflated human being, subject to the self-centeredness of that affects us all. I wouldn’t want to worship a God that small. Let’s lift the lid on that petty shoebox thinking. God is beyond his creation and before anything thing he has created. We are not dealing with some Greek deity who is just an inflated human with magnified faults. God is totally other than all he has made. He is in fact the only one outside of our world that we can rightly look up to. We praise him simply because it is right to do so. We wouldn’t want him to be anything less otherwise he would not be God.

God is not only outside of the world he has chosen to become part of it. He is not aloof, but concerned enough to become involved in human life through Jesus. Because of his great compassion he is a help for those who call on him. This means that our worship is more than a duty to a higher power, but a heart-felt appreciation for all that he is and has done.

But what about this insinuation that God is egotistical? Is God stuck on himself by urging us to praise him? No, that’s impossible. Consider the most concise definition of God: God is love . (1 John 4:7-8). God is the only being who uses all at his disposal for the benefit of others. The Lord is totally other-focused. It is impossible for God to be selfish with our praises. The praise we give to him is transformed into waves of love that he showers back on us. In fact as we praise the Lord we are doing ourselves a favor because what little we give to him is magnified and returned to us in abundance.

We are so honored be able to praise the Lord. The human being is the only creature that can lift its head to heaven and praise the Lord. All other animals look downward except humans. We are created to look and reach upward toward heaven. God is totally self-sufficient, yet he includes our words of praise as something he values. So in fact it is the Lord who does us a favor by allowing us to praise him. He is giving us permission to step beyond our world and into his own.

Application

“The Father is looking.” Those are probing words. He is looking for me to worship him.

Prayer

Father, thank you for the gift of praise and stir our hearts to worship you throughout the day and to make our daily living an act of worship. Amen.