Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Practical Proverbs

Sometimes, I find myself in a rut spiritually. I realize that what I'm lacking is something different in my devotion time. Sometimes, my devotion time is so sweet and I feel God's Presence and other times just aren't as good. God's spirit is so sweet and when I don't feel that for a day or two, instead of getting frustrated and desiring it like I should, my flesh tells me to ignore it and not to worry about it at all. What I have realized for about the last month is that instead of doing a devotion out of a book or doing some study through the Bible, I've been reading Proverbs. Before when I'd get spiritually "paralyzed", I would turn to the Psalms. Someone told me the few weeks ago that as a musician and worshiper, the Psalms are good, however, sometimes, we as musicians wear our emotions on our shoulders and the Psalms are like a gallon of gasoline to a campfire. Now, many people would say, "well, isn't that good?", yes, it is however, what happens, the campfire eventually goes down. What we need to be doing is making our fire large but keeping it there. Proverbs can be read 12 times a year and every single time you read it, it's different. Every time you read it, God does something different because of the different situations in your life. Proverbs is so practical in our worship. Many times we force emotion in order to worship, when we need wisdom. I love how Solomon refers to wisdom so many times in Proverbs. Here are some great examples:

"Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding." - Proverbs 4:7

"If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer." - Proverbs 9:12

Really, we as worshipers should be praying for wisdom. Without wisdom, our worship is in vein. I am a worshiper first, God's command for us is clear in his word -- we just have to read it. I believe to be an effective worshiper in a pew or on a platform, you must have wisdom.

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