Scripture
‘Praise the Lord , all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord .’ -Psalms 117:1-2
https://my.bible.com/bible/111/PSA.117.1-2
Observation
Psalm 117 is a wonderfully simple statement of God’s goodness and greatness, spoken from the heart of David. God loves it when His children worship Him. He doesn’t require it to be fancy, complicated, elaborate, or lengthy.
Application
I love playing worship music, and honing my skill daily to grow. I love putting effort into producing the best quality music and art that I can, instead of half-heartedly slapping something together with minimal effort…and I believe God is pleased by this! At the same time though, it can be easy to slip into the trap of thinking that the level of complexity is related to how ‘worshipful’ a song or a service is…that somehow if the music is more stirring, if the drums are just a little tighter, and if the guitar solo is just a little more epic, that God is more glorified. If I am not careful, this could lead to putting my own satisfaction ahead of God’s satisfaction–in a sense, making worship itself into an idol.
The truth is that God loves His children, and He loves it when we talk about Him.
When we point to Him.
When we call attention to Him.
When we glorify Him.
When we celebrate Him.
When we acknowledge Him.
I do believe that God is pleased when I grow and develop in the abilities He has given me…but His satisfaction is not in how skilled I am. His satisfaction is in the fact that I do it for Him.
Prayer
God, thank you that you love me. Thank you that you do not require perfection, but rather that your perfect love is daily working to perfect me. Help me to do everything I do for You alone, and not for my own sense of satisfaction. Help me to glorify You by being responsible to develop the abilities You’ve given me, and may I always remember that the simple goal, is to simply point to You.