A Babbling Believer
A long time ago some preacher made a remark that I have
never forgotten. “A lot of lies are told in church during the singing of
the hymns.” He meant to be humorous, but next time you’re in church, pay
close attention to the words of the songs. We tell Jesus that He is all
we desire, that He is more than life to us. Is He? “Take all of me”
we sing offering to surrender self and our treasure to Him. Do we? Then,
too, sometimes church prayers become more like greeting card sentiment, nice
phrases formed around creating good feelings. If we pray without passion,
we dishonor God Himself. What if, in our corporate worship, we really
wept over our sins, shouted about our victories, and talked openly about our
doubts, fears, and temptations? Granted, it is a public gathering. But we come
first to address our God, not to impress our friends.
Worship that is only shaped around superficial words and
poetic prayers can easily turn into a Band-Aid covering our sin wound without
bringing healing. The Bible warns about going through the motions of worship
without integrity, becoming a babbling Believer. "Guard your steps when
you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the
sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick
with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. … When you
make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools;
fulfill your vow. It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill
it. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. … Much dreaming and many words are
meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God." (Ecclesiastes
5:1-7, NIV)
Awe! Perhaps it is the most neglected component of true
worship in our noisy, busy lives. Have we grown spiritually deaf? Francis
Chan encourages us to learn again how to listen to the Spirit. In Forgotten
God, he writes – “A little bit of spirituality added into our lives is not
what God has in mind. … Jesus’ call is to radical faith, to be willing to
suffer anything and forsake everything for the sake of Gospel.” This kind
of hunger will lead us to worship that is deeply dependent on the Spirit, that
listens carefully for His direction because we know we cannot live as He
desires without Him.
When we become anxious, when things go terribly wrong and we
cannot understand why, when God falls silent (and He does); our natural inclination
is to speak more, to bravely babble as if by saying the right things often
enough, we can somehow make them happen. The truth is that in those seasons, a
better response is learned from Job, that suffering saint of the Old
Testament. Though a man in right standing before God, the Lord allowed
him to lose everything. Even Job’s best friends concluded that all the tragedy
must somehow be his fault, the result of some secret sin. Job patiently sat
through their sermons and even took the ranting of his wife, who urged him to
‘curse God and die’ in stride. Then one day Job could take it no more and
he challenged the Almighty to explain Himself. In so many words, Job
said, “Lord, I want vindication. What kind of God are you anyway?” Then,
he listened. I love this verse: “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?
I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer— twice, but I
will say no more.” (Job 40:4-5, NIV) I put my hand over my mouth!
No more babbling. Job abandoned words to stand in awe. He
never really got a explanation, but he found an answer in the wonder of God’s
transcendent Presence. I pray that I will love Abba enough to shut up and
listen more.
Here’s a word from the Word. Live it. “My
dear friends, as you have always obeyed … continue to work out your salvation
with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act
according to his good purpose." (Philippians 2:12-13, NIV)
Our need is less about a solution or even relief. We are changed in
the Presence of the God as we stand before Him in awe.
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