I have spent almost my entire life studying music only to feel there is so much more to grasp and understand. In fact the more I study the bigger the whole world of music becomes and the more I realize my lack of "expertise". I also have studied worship most of my adult life only to find that the more I study the more I am humbled with the realization that I really have no expertise in understanding worship from God's perspective. Experiencing His presence in worship serves only to keep me understanding how little I know and how totally dependent on Him as opposed to my "experience". My heart's desire is to know what really honors our Lord, knowing my understanding is so limited.
"In Spirit and in Truth" . . . from John 4:23 has always intrigued me in trying to understand what is at the heart of worship. In seminars and classes over the years I've heard a lot about balance in worship because of this passage. And yet I have also heard and read many who have said one or the other was more important in understanding worship. In our Western Christian tradition most theological presuppositions about worship focus on "truth" or on the cerebral; on the mind rather than the heart. It is more objective thought of God's revealed Person, nature, and His attributes. But this focus is more on our mind's ideas about God rather than our heart's hunger for Him.
Sometimes we make "mind" and "spirit" synonyms. But in fact . . . "in truth" is a companion phrase indicating that with worshipping in spirit . . . the heart . . .there is active involvement of the intellect as well. There are those who are suspicious of this because our value system maximizes intellect and minimizes the worth of emotion. The heart is more emotionally centered and in our western thinking should take back seat to reason. But the question arises: is the mind less subject to deception than the heart? In both 2 Cor. 4:4 and Job 11:7 we see that even though the intellect is a wonderful gift from God it is still prone to deception.
God's Word seems to show us that in our worship God is not looking for something brilliant, but something broken: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart - these O God, You will not despise" (Psalm 51:17). It would seem that God's concern when we worship Him is not how many grandiose thoughts we have about Him, but how passionately our hearts desire and hunger for Him. It would seem that God desires worship that desires and treasures His presence, worship that humbles our hearts and worship that sacrifices, expecting God's response that leads us to share God's love by every means. God may be more interested in our brokenness than in our brilliance. It reminds me of something one of my African friends once said, "It is not by our own cleverness we have arrived." mjm
