Reflections: What does the Father see?
I’ve had a really busy week. While it is said that idleness is the devil’s workshop, busyness can be as dangerous, if not more so. In our busyness, it is really easy to lose sight of the ‘why’ we do what we do. If idleness were the devil’s workshop, busyness would be the devil’s playground. So many things happen all at once that as you try to keep up with everything, you end up dropping the ball. It is subtle but it is incredibly effective in deflecting your focus away from the only One who matters.
I attended a meeting a while back. There were well over a hundred people in the room but one man stood out to me and quite surely to a few other people too. He was advanced in age and perhaps to some, a little unseemly. At one point during worship, at one of the slower and quieter songs, this man’s voice could be heard very clearly. Now it wasn’t a sweet voice, or a powerful, controlled one such as that of Frank Sinatra, it was raucous. You wouldn’t even call it singing, it was more like a cry or wail, in all it’s coarseness, shouting at the top of his lungs to praise Jesus. Unsurprisingly, many heads turned to where the voice came from.
I wish that I could say that the eyes I saw were those of amusement and love but what I saw was contempt. It was contempt for the raucous noise this man was making. This did not happen just once but quite a few times. What I saw written on the faces of people around him was contempt. It was such that you could almost hear their thoughts being: “stop singing, that’s awful”. People were so busy being disturbed by the worship of an unperturbed man whose sole focus was praising Jesus that they forgot they were there to worship (ironically like that man) in spirit and in truth, instead of acting as a choir master. Not only that, they completely missed out on what the Father was saying about this son of His.
While people were giving him disgusted looks, love and joy filled my heart. I could almost hear my Papa saying: “this is My son in whom I am well pleased”. I can say with absolute certainty that He delighted in this man’s worship. It was worship in it’s purest form, right from the depths of the heart and soul undisturbed by anything else. He was a child deeply in awe and in love. And you know what? A son does not look for the applause of the audience, he only sees the applause of his delighted Father and is more than overjoyed knowing that his Father is proud of him.
I am reminded of a portion of scripture from 2 Samuel 6. When David brought the ark back to Jerusalem, he was worshipping the Lord with all his might while practically being naked. When Michal saw David’s worship, she despised him in her heart for bringing shame in the eyes of man. Basically, she despised David’s worship and paid a hefty price for that: barrenness.
Now I’m not suggesting that such a thing would happen to those who looked at that man with contempt and I certainly pray that such a thing would never happen to them but instead God would bless them with even greater abundance. However, my point is that despising someone else’s worship is an extremely dangerous thing to do if not incredibly stupid. Not only there comes a price, it disconnects you from His perfect will and all that He has in store for you.
Very recently, I made a slipup while playing a worship set. For musicians, it happens from time to time, we are not perfect as much as we strive to be. There are two responses when such a thing happens. You either sulk through the rest of the set beating yourself up in your mind; or you turn your gaze back to Him and watch how He takes your mistake and works something miraculous out of it. Too often I have seen people pick the first response because of the orphan spirit. We think that our mistakes had let God down when in fact it is our response, if anything, that has let Him down.
Picking the second response is not possible in all our humanness. It can only come from the security of being a son and knowing that you are a son. You are a son, and if you need to be reminded of that, read Romans 8:15. …you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry: “Abba, Father!”. As a son, I know my worth, I know my value and I know I am well-loved by my Father. As a result, such a thing that was meant to derail my focus only served to make me take a closer look to see what my Father is doing amongst His people and then follow Him in doing what He is doing. Most importantly, He did all that He wanted to accomplish that night.
To conclude, in both instances, man perceived differently from the Father. While we see an unseemly man, He sees a son whose actions are an absolute delight to Him. While we see an inadequate person, He sees a son whom He is proud of. I think it is good practice that the next time we think of judging another person, we stop to ask: “what does the Father see?”. And when we mess up and start beating ourselves up, stop and ask: “what does the Father see?” I can guarantee you that every single time you ask that question, His response would be: “this is My son in whom I am well pleased.”
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