Humble Thyself in the Sight of the Lord

I don't know if anyone remembers that old chorus. I used to do it with my kids in Tahoka back in the early '90's (yes, I'm old and I admit it). The words are very simple: Humble Thyself in the sight of the Lord (repeat) And He will lift you up. Not real hard to memorize that one. This past Sunday, God humbled me in a big way. For those of you who missed church at FLBC or who attend elsewher, I had the privilege of leading worship for our Music Minister while he and his wife celebrated their anniversary. I worked on the music and put together a worship set that I really thought went together well: Unchanging (Tomlin), Your Love, O Lord (Third Day), Great is Thy Faithfulness (Hymn), Stronger (Hillsongs) and Charlie Hall's arrangement of Jesus Paid it All. Worked in some lead guitar stuff for Grant to play. I was pumped about leading worship. Then God got a hold of the service...do you know how frustrating it is too lose your voice in the middle of worship? I literally sounded like a frog croaking his way through worship. When that happened, I lost concentration. I started thinking about what others might be thinking about me, why was this happening to me, how am I going to get back in control...you see a pattern developing here? Suddenly, I was more concerned about me than anything else. We finished the worship set, thanks to Grant singing, and I went and sat down all upset because of what happened to me.


Later Sunday night I started reading a book written by Andy Park, To Know You More: Cultivating the heart of a worshipper. It's a great book, even though I've only read a couple of chapters (I'm a slow reader). The author makes it very clear in Chapter 1: Worship is not about us, it's about God. Now, I'm sure you're like me, and just said, "Well, DUH!" But I forgot that Sunday. All I could focus on was my situation. I missed listening to the congregation lead the worship when I couldn't sing. They were worshiping in spite of my lack of worship. I am reminded that before I can be a worship leader, I have to be a worshiper. Again, I here some of you saying, "DUH!!" Question for you: Are you worshiping when you come before the Lord, or are you going through the motions and playing at worship?

Now this may not be a problem for you. But I need to be reminded that worship is about God, because I'm bad about letting ego get in the way sometimes. Lord, never let my pride get in the way of pointing others to you.