Scriptural Snippets And Sidebars

So often in our worship gatherings we do not “lead off” with the Word of God.  Why not?  Until the Word is spoken we can’t offer the worship our hearts, minds and souls want to offer.  We do not yet sense that we are His.  And meaning is not yet present.  Our worship and our gatherings suffer because of this all too common weak confidence in the Scripture.  

A Foil To A Praise Psalm

Recently, I preached Psalm 33.  One of the sections of this Psalm is about the effective power of God’s word and how considering this elicits our praise.  

Psalm 33:4–9 ESV “For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD. By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.”

At another venue a few weeks after that I was at a worship event where the Word of God was largely absent.  It was an interesting contrast.  The leaders were sincere, but were simply telling us things about God that we knew were in the Bible.  The music was beautiful and true, but again composed of merely human wording.  Much, much later in the meeting the Word of God was introduced and we felt Christian finally; at least I did.

Our words are just words, but God’s Word is effective.  We can’t deeply encourage one another without the Word of God.  We end up simply making stuff up to say that seems like it ought to be encouraging, and reading the Bible along with our story as a supporting sidebar.  And no matter how wonderful the songs are that we are singing, we can’t leave it to the songs to convey snippets of Scripture as if that were enough.

Basic Instructions On Reading Scripture

Scripture should not merely be read in snippets and sidebars as it seems useful; rather we should declare it and read it publicly as instructed in 1 Timothy 4:13 “. . . devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture . . . .”

Don’t hurry.  Pause for one or two seconds before you begin reading.  And then pause for a second of two after you finish before you leave the front or sit down.  Announce the text you will be reading by reference only.  There is no need to supply personal commentary.  Simply read the Bible.

Read well.  Practice reading aloud beforehand, if you have the time.  Know the text--its divisions, emphases, pronunciation, cadence, et cetera.  Read a little louder than your normal voice, but not in a weird “holy” voice.  Keep a good pace.  Be lively and passionate about God’s Word; and honor and enjoy the text in front of everyone.

Our Words Are Not As Good As God’s Words

The Word of God brings focus, power, authority, truth, clarity, renewal and transformation.  This is because God is speaking, not us.  He is the One who can bring such blessings into our worship, our meetings and our lives.

If we lead off with the Word of God, at least somewhere near the beginning, before we move too far into our meeting, then we will find Psalm 33:1 much easier to accomplish:  “Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous!  Praise befits the upright.”