Songs of Deliverance
Psalm 32:7 reads, “You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah” I believe these songs are being released to the church in this season. Songs that bring freedom, songs that bring healing, songs that push back the darkness— God is surrounding His people with music that not only encourages us, but also protects us.
I know that concept seems strange to you; it does to me. But consider what the aforementioned passage really is implying. Music, a seemingly frivolous thing, in God’s hands can be used as a weapon to guard our lives. Anointed songs can provide a hiding place— a place of safety.
When an evil spirit tormented King Saul, he called for a musician who could drive away the malady. In 1 Samuel 16:18 one of Saul’s servants told him that he knew of a young man who was “skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the Lord is with him.”
What does it mean to be skillful in playing? Is that the guy in the nightclub who knows every blues riff? Is that Eric Clapton or Chet Atkins? No, it’s more about knowing how to play with Sprit-led authority and watching the enemy flee.
Songs of deliverance have much to do with communing with the Lord in those private moments when no one is watching. David did not just walk up out of the fields with infinite knowledge. He had spent many evenings keeping his father’s sheep in solitude where it was just he, a lyre, and God. And out of those intimate moments a relationship developed where songs came forth that exuded profound revelation. The young shepherd boy gradually became an instrument of heaven.
When David opened his mouth to sing or when he lifted his hands to play, sounds of freedom poured into the room. Supernatural beams of light shot in different directions from his hands. As the presence of God drew near, evil spirits dissipated into the night sky, and King Saul was hidden in a temporary place of safety. Unfortunately the king refused to obey truth and stay in that place.
As songs of deliverance emerge we must be ready to embrace worshipping in Sprit and in Truth. We cannot do one without the other. We must trust the Sprit of Grace wherever He takes us. And we must allow Truth to transform us forever. I pray we are a people that welcome these songs. I know I want Him surrounding my house. How about yours?
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Room 319
“And Samuel grew and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.” 1 Samuel 3:19
I think we skip over this verse, “none of his words fall to the ground,” too soon. That means everything Samuel spoke and prophesied came to pass. Everything he said was honored by the Lord. Samuel, “first of the prophets and last of the judges,” grew in the grace of God. He increased in wisdom and favor as he matured into a man. The Lord honored him and projected his life forward and into the limelight. Great truths were found in his words, for they were proven and confirmed by the Lord (Isaiah 44:26). In time God established Samuel as a prophet in all
Israel making him a man of great renown.
Over the last few years I have witnessed a trend in worship music—movement from wanting to serve to wanting to be served and seen. Some local church worship leaders are not happy tending flocks. They want fame, position, and radio airplay. They want to be people of great renown. But there is a problem with their current model of upward mobility. It's taken completely from worldly standards. Based solely upon self promotion the Christian music scene is a carbon copy of the secular music scene. The industry feeds pride, competition, and idol worship by encouraging celebrity within its ranks. And I am afraid that many worship leaders are in danger of their words falling to the ground.
We must get back to basics and sing and prophesy as Samuel. Samuel’s words did not fall to the ground because he only said what God wanted him to say. He did not prophesy out of his own thoughts and emotions, but he prophesied out of a heart submitted to Yahweh. His whole life was one striving to be completely submitted to God’s Spirit. When you read his story in the book of 1st Samuel, you read of a barren mother who promises God a child. That child, Samuel, is raised in the temple constantly exposed to the things of the Lord. His thoughts, ambitions, and destiny become grounded and eventually fully realized in God. And eventually God exalted Samuel to a place of prominence-- not an agent, a booking firm, and slick marketing.
On a recent trip to a worship conference near
Boston I stayed in room 319 twice at two different hotels. The first night of our stay my wife Allison and I caught a few scenes of an older TV movie about the lives of David, Samuel, and Saul. I noticed of all three of these figures I was particularly drawn to Samuel. Of course that could have been because he was played by Leonard Nemoy, and I am a huge sci-fi fan. But after noticing the double 319, I considered 1 Samuel 3:19. It all seemed to fit. Maybe God doesn’t speak to you in movies and room numbers, but I do know that He has spoken through donkeys and crowing roosters in the past. So I’ve learned to pay attention to my surroundings. Having said all of that, I believe God wants us to dwell in that place of growing in Him; allowing Him to speak through us, and having no words fall to the ground. This is a place that He has prepared for us to abide with Him—a place of comfort, protection, but also Fatherly correction. He wants us to stay in room 319.
I know this is not an easy thing. To be like Samuel is a lofty goal. But I believe it is a far better goal than to have the right equipment, sound better than the church down the street, and get your song into
America ’s Top Twenty Praise & Worship Songs.
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Simple Faith
One of the hymns we sing reads “just in simple faith to plunge me ‘neath the healing, cleansing flood.” What is simple faith? Part of that answer may be found in the title of that hymn— Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus. And I think another part of that answer is found initially in salvation. Many of you started your Christian spiritual journeys as individuals being turned on to the notion of a great big, loving God. I believe it’s much like when a child completely trusts in his or her parents believing everything they say.
When I was in the first grade, one afternoon my class passed by other children in wheelchairs at school. Seeing physically challenged people for the first time for many of my classmates did not necessarily espouse compassion. Condescending names were thrown around as we learned not everybody in the world looked like us. And at six I really did not totally grasp I was condescending when I joined in the talk.
Trusting in my parents I was always a little too transparent as a child. I went straightway home spouting off about how there were other kids in my school that wore helmets and rode around in wheelchairs. “You must never ever look down upon others, Shawn,” my Mom quickly retorted. She actually had to repeat that several times during my elementary education. “You always treat people the way you want to be treated. You be as nice as you can, dear. You probably don’t know what all they have had to go through in their lives.”
My mom was right. The same woman that had pulled back my hands from a hot stove when I was a toddler had pulled back my heart from prejudice and ugly name calling as a first grader. Simple faith was trusting her in both situations.
As we plunge beneath Christ’s healing, cleansing flood we have to trust Him completely. He knows what is good for us and what is bad. When He sits us down to explain to us what we are doing wrong, it is best that we listen. It is also very important that we make a conscious effort to be transparent before Him in our devotion times. He sees all of it anyway; it is foolhardy to try to hide things from an omniscient creator.
During honest dialogue (prayer) our immaturities just have a way of coming up. Those little foxes that we keep missing day in and day out are blatantly obvious to the Spirit. He let’s us know, and if we listen, we grow. We grow in the most important way— our character. Simple faith is found in a relationship rooted in trust and watered with obedience.
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Lamentations
We live in a time when prophets are rising up everyday. Many ambitious men and women want to be known as prophets or apostles of God around this country. But their means are not leading to a good or better yet, God end. I read an internet site this week that advertised personal prophetic words given in exchange for sizeable donations. How is that any different from paying a psychic for his wares. Dull prophetic voices are merchandising an anointing while our nation sinks deeper into decay. We need heroes to emerge who are selfless and committed-- ready in the midst of a crisis.
I know that many church people will respond to the Katrina crisis by saying that New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast had it coming. Surely their sins of gross immorality (sex, crime, gambling, drunkenness) have done them in. Well, if that’s the case, then we are all done for.
While in prayer God gave me an impression of realities. New Orleans, the Big Easy, is in ruin. A city known for hedonism, lewd acts, and witchcraft is right now covered in polluted water. The only people left in the city are the poverty stricken masses who had no choice but to stay. But this is not an isolated case; this is very much a picture of us.
I see New Orleans as a personification of our national sins. Our nation and our churches are deep in the very sins that are so visible in New Orleans. Surrounding the city are countless poverty stricken neighborhoods. Likewise our nation is suffering from gross spiritual poverty. We have given ourselves over to other new age gods, we allow pornography to line our grocery store check-out shelves , and we keep going on in a drunken stupor like nothing’s wrong. And to top it all off, the church often does not know how to respond to needy people and ends up condemning them.
We do not need to heap more coals on the fire by casting judgment. We need to act in a posture of repentance and sincerely request mercy. We must cry out for the afflicted, pray for the lost to be found, and help in every prayerful, physical way possible. What New Orleans and the rest of our country needs most of all right now is God. We must demonstrate His love for the drunkard, the prostitute, the orphan, and the poor.
I have been moved deeply by the images I have seen on TV and the internet this week. And I know many of you have been as well. I have been reminded of Jeremiah— the weeping prophet. I long to see God raise up men of integrity like him in this hour. Jeremiah prophesied the downfall and captivity of his nation. He was ostracized and rejected. But when Judah was overtaken by Babylon, Jeremiah did not laugh and say, “I told you so.” He wept bitter tears for his homeland, continued to declare hard truths, and prophesied hope. Lamentations 3:22,23— Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
New Orleans is a city of contradiction— gory filth and amazing beauty. Its sins are known the world over, but its sounds and tastes have had more lasting impact. Its superb cooking, revolutionary jazz music, and arts culture have greatly influenced the world. How many of you cook with Zatarain’s or own a Louis Armstrong CD? Hence we need to be praying for the Lord to draw all those artists, chefs, and musicians to Himself. What if the gospel of Jesus came out of the end of a brass ragtime trumpet and the Saints really did go marching?
Shawn 8/31/2005
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