God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good. Not just a recitation on this occasion, but for me as I drove down the interstate in rural west tennessee, it was a wonderful, glorious, awe-inspiring truth. Observed from a distance there was nothing out of the ordinary on this autmn night, nothing that would suggest the wonder I felt that night. It had been a great day, I had made a trip home, to Memphis that afternoon from my new home in Jackson, TN at Union Univeristy. Life on campus is good, God has blessed me with many good friends who constantly challenge me to a stronger relationship with Christ. But, apathy was, and still is a struggle. Union has a wonderful spiritual atmosphere, it is quite common for me to find myself involved in great theological discussions. However, in all the busy-ness of my first semester of college life, these discussusions and my Bible classes soon began to replace my personal quiet time. I allowed the passion inside of me to die down to a pile of smoldering coals. I despised these feelings of apathy, yet did little to combat them. Complacency had overtaken my heart. My prayer life didn't slip to much, thanks to exams and to the prayer group I am in, but my daily reading of scripture and my personal time of reflecting on the greatness of God had evaporated. I needed an intervention, and God stepped in at just the right time. As I drove back to campus that night with the windows rolled down and the stereo blasting "for those who wait" by the band fireflight, I felt moved. The stars were shining bright, the breeze was billowing through my hair, and the sound of loud guitar filled my ears. The thought going through my head was: " this is an act of worship." Odd thought? maybe. But what I realized was that the song I was listening to, written and performed by a christian band, is a worship song. Not a worship song in the sense of we need to sing in our worship services, but a worship song in the sense that the artists who wrote that song were using their God given gifts to bring honor to God through their music. I could sense the awesomeness of God in the fact that he created everything, even the chords that formed the song I was listening to. And I thanked God for these gifts, the gift of music, the gift of a starlit night, and the gift of senses to take in this world that God has given us. It may be a fallen world, but the fingerprints of God are everywhere. God shook me from my complacency by reminding me of the glimpses of his glory that can be seen in creation, and in the creative talents of those individuals who seek to honor him through their work. I was overwhelmed by a sense of awe, and God reminded me that night that there is more to worship than singing those wonderful worship songs. Worship should be constant, God should be praised in all we do. Check out what it says in Colossians:
"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the LORD and not for men..."
-Colossians 4:23
When we do anything, it should be for God's praise, and to give him glory, not to glorify ourselves and those we work for. God is glorified in us when we do things seeking to honor him through those actions. As I drove down the highway in awe of the majestic creator while enjoying his wonderful creation, all I could say was: God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good.
In His Dust,
Matt
(Numbers 6:24-26)
