There was a little old lady who every morning stepped onto her front porch, raised her arms to the sky and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD!" Well one day an atheist moved into the house next door. He became irritated by the little old lady, so every morning he'd get on his porch and yell back, "THERE IS NO LORD!" Time passed with the two of them carrying on this way every day. One morning, in the middle of a very harsh winter, the little old lady stepped onto her porch and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD! Please, Lord, I have no food and I am starving, provide for me, O Lord!" The next morning when she stepped out onto her porch there were two huge bags of groceries sitting there. "PRAISE THE LORD" she cried. . . "He has provided groceries for me!" The atheist neighbor immediately responded with "THERE IS NO LORD; I BOUGHT THOSE GROCERIES!" The little old lady threw her arms into the air and shouted, "PRAISE THE LORD! He has provided me with groceries AND made the DEVIL pay for them!"
If there was anything serious we could learn from this little bit of humor, what would it be? What commentary on worship do you see here? I see something very significant - and that is that it is always important as we worship God to be observant of the all of the ordinary ways in which God has his hand on your life. It will make your worship all the richer, all the
more meaningful, as you contemplate both the obvious and subtle ways in which God provides for you. Have you ever considered, for example:
- that God intervened in your life to protect you from harm?
- that God has guided the circumstances of your life to allow you to
grow and learn unimpeded? - that God has put just the right mix of people in your path to help,
counsel, and guide you? - that God brought certain individuals into your life experience to
introduce you to Jesus Christ? - that God has protected you from danger, disease, and disasters to
which you may have been oblivious? - that God has orchestrated certain events in your life to keep you
from falling into bad habits or to keep you from certain weaknesses? - that God has allowed failure in your life so that you would become
stronger? - that God has allowed hardships in your life to make you more
dependent on Him?
more fervent is that we take God for granted. We just assume that our
life should be what it is because we've earned it. It had nothing to do
with Him. Sure, he provides us with eternal life and all, but right now
it's my ball game and I'm playing by my own rules. How foolish we must
look to God when we enter worship with that presumptive attitude!
Sure, worship is great when the band is really tight, when the songs are
inspirational, when the videos are eye-catching, and when the sermon is
articulate and passionate. But how much deeper and richer would our
worship be if we truly recognized that the majestic God, the creator of
the vast universe, the sustainer of all life, has a long checklist that
has just your name at the top: Things I'm Doing for Joe
Christian. Wow. God loves me, cares for me, protects me, feeds me,
watches me, encourages me, corrects me, and so on. . . As you prepare
to lead worship this week, make YOUR list of things that God has done
for you. Just you. No one else. If it doesn't dramatically impact your
worship, I don't know what will. What are your thoughts? What do you
think we've taken for granted? How can we translate the knowledge of
God's blessing in your life to the worship stage? Share your thoughts
with us!
1 comments:
In general, I would tune out of any story starting with "There was a little old lady"...but I kept reading anyway... This hits home with me. I think of how many times I have rushed thru giving thanks to the Lord (like at dinner time) and am simutaneously thinking of 10other things. I really need to hit my "pause and reflect" button, clear my mind and focus on thanking God.
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