Did You Enjoy...

I haven't worshipped in a while. I've led worship and I've had conversations about worship, almost boasting about how I don't even need a full band to lead worship in church. If I had to lead worship alone, just me and my acoustic guitar, I could.

I stank of pride.

Pride is a sneaky thing. It creeps up on you like a hyena stalking its prey. Always in the shadows but never daring to meet face to face. Waiting for the precise moment when the prey is most unaware of itself and it's surroundings. We are like that prey. Before we realise it, pride is all over us along with its awful smell.

Tonight, God asked me if I could worship Him without an instrument. I don't know why I insisted on picking up the guitar and playing it with the remaining three healthy fingers. It was awkward and uncomfortable like I was trying to play it for the first time. I put the guitar down and started to sing about His goodness, about how I was healed by His blood. I sang for about 10 minutes. And then I stopped. I couldn't help thinking about how badly I wanted to play again. I wanted to feel my fingers breeze over the frets of the guitar, to touch the strings to make them sing. I told God how much I wanted to recover really soon so that I could make music and write songs again. I did not expect Him to answer me. He said, "I enjoyed your playing and your singing. Did you enjoy Me?"

Did you enjoy Me?

Worship isn't just a song we sing or a performance we bring. Worship begins when we encounter Jesus. How we react to Him is our worship. There's no requirement for a song or music. It is a connection, a conversation with God. His Spirit and us.

So I laid down, and just enjoyed His presence in my room. And I slept. And worshipped. And slept. And when morning arrived, Hope came along.