Jump Start # 1765

Psalms 30:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

  It was off the orchestra the other evening for my wife and I. She loves classical music and I love being with her. On this occasion it was a performance of Debussy, Mozart and a feature of Brahms. It was great. We have seats in the sixth row from the center which allows us to really see the musicians up closer and personal. My wife and I have very different reactions to a night of the orchestra. She truly understands the music. She hears themes and can understand what the composer was trying to reveal. For me, it’s more the observations that I usually point out to her between pieces. Things such as, I wonder why some violins are shinny and others are not. I wonder why some are dark wood and others light. I noticed the guest conductor the other evening never had a music stand or the score in front of him. He had memorized all three pieces and was conducting without looking at any music. We have never seen that before. Impressive. We sit close enough that I can watch the eyes of the musicians. There is a lot of eye movement going on. They will look at their music. They will look at the conductor. I noticed the first chair viola was looking at the first chair cello player, who in turn would look at the concertmaster, the first chair violin. Like a quarterback, looking over the defense before the ball was hiked, these musicians were playing as a team.

I noticed something else the other evening. It happened twice during the final piece. It was an intense part, and all the musicians were playing fast. They all looked serious, a few even had wrinkled foreheads. You could tell that they were really concentrating and giving it their all. But right there, in the midst of all of this, a young viola player, smiled. He smiled while they were playing. He did it later on. That caught my eye. Everyone else was so serious looking, almost frowning, because of the intensity. But here was a young musician who actually was enjoying the moment. He was happy to be there and he was enjoyed what he was playing. I hadn’t seen that before in all the performances that we have been to. I’ll be watching for it now.

That happy musician made me think of our verse today. “Delight yourself in the Lord…” I wonder if we ever do the same? I wonder if we are so intense in our walk with the Lord, wanting to do what is right, wanting to obey God, not wanting to mess up, that we fail to enjoy what we are doing. I’ve heard folks say repeatedly, “It’s hard being a Christian.” And I hear about all the struggles, the difficulties and hardships, that we may have forgotten to enjoy our walk with the Lord.

I wonder if we preachers enjoy our sermons. Certainly we work hard on them. We pour hours into research, finding the best words and trying to find ways to teach and make things stick with the audience, but while we are preaching, do we ever smile? Do we listen, as the young musician did?

The same could be said of our song leaders. They do a great job. Choosing the right song, practicing it, getting everyone started and keeping the tempo. Do you enjoy it? My youngest is like that musician at the concert the other night. When my youngest leads singing, he rarely looks at the song book, he just looks at the audience and smiles. He’s the smilest song leader that I know.

Enjoy what we are doing. Delight in the Lord. In Hebrews, the leaders are to watch over our souls with joy. That’s forgotten these days. Troubles in the rank, complaints, issues here, problems there, and the work of leading God’s people is endured. It’s long. It’s hard. It must be done. But rarely do we hear one saying, “It’s joyful.” “It’s a delight.” “I like leading God’s people.” Maybe more would be leaders today, if more of our leaders smiled now and then. It’s  like the Presidency. Have you seen the latest pictures of our current president? It happens to nearly every president. By the time they finish their term, they look old. They have aged so much. Their hair has changed color. Wrinkles have appeared. The toll of the office has changed the way that they look. I think some see that same thing with leading God’s people. So, many steer clear of it. Happy elders. Smiling elders. Wouldn’t that lift the spirits of everyone and change the atmosphere of the place. Maybe more would want to lead if they saw smiles.

But it’s not just the leaders, our minds take us to Paul’s words to the Philippians, where numerous times they are told to “rejoice in the Lord.” Delight in God. Smile. Some folks shuffle into the church house like they are walking into the funeral home. Maybe the world does that to us. Maybe work is tearing us up on the inside. Maybe home life is tough. But when folks leave that same way, something’s not right. We ought to have a smile on our face and a spring in our step. We’ve been with the people of God. We have just worshiped the Lord and studied His amazing book. Equipped, challenged, reminded, built up, hearts filled with courage and faith, those smiles ought to come back to us.

Happy folks. That ought to be us. Sure there is negative things to take that smile off. The world is running from God. Things are tough in many congregations. While some are exploding in growth and hope, others are falling apart. Terrorism. Atheism. Materialism. There are always “isms” to frighten and concern us. But God is greater than all of those isms. God is able. God loves us and it is to Him that we are marching everyday.

The music sounds wonderful. But occasionally, we need to not only hear it as we play it, but we need to enjoy it. A young musician, playing his heart out, surrounded by stuffy older musicians, smiled. He was on stage and playing a wonderful piece. There was much to be happy about.

Give it a try today. Smile at work. Some will probably notice and say, “What are you smiling about?” Your answer, “I’m just happy today.” Someone will certainly shoot back, “It’s Monday. I’m never happy on Monday.”  So sad.  This is the day that the Lord has made.

I’ve noticed something about smiles. When someone smiles at you, you tend to smile back. It just works that way. I found myself smiling at a young musician who was giving it his all.

Delight in the Lord.

Roger