Worship Looks Different for Everyone | Psalm 144

I got to play hockey the other night. And I said this moment. I was walking out of the rink and I had this like five second thought where I was just like, dude that was awesome. I got to move my body and I got to be with people. God thank you that you've given me a healthy body. And I got to be around people who I don't think know you and I get to have conversations with them about what I do and who I am and my family and when I just get to stop and not just like think, oh that was nice, but actually go a little bit deeper there and be like, man God thank you for this, this, this, and this and I got to enjoy life and ultimately you because you were the mastermind behind all that stuff. This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts, no perfect people, just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. (upbeat music) Hey, how you doing? I'm Chuck. I'm Chris. I'm Jordan. And we are continuing to talk about revival. Psalm 144 is an interesting one to bring in through revival, right? Because it starts in a battle. Clearly there's a fight going on and I think that's true. I think revival happens in the context of our real lives. Like God wants to break through not to some ideal world

but to the real world that we live in and he can and he will. And so as we read this psalm together, what struck you? What stood out? Was there a particular verse or particular picture that stood out to you from Psalm 144? - I can't listen or read this psalm without the, I should have brought a physical Bible but a little borrowed from a friend. - Yes. - Oh Lord, what is man that you regard him or the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath. His days are like a passing shadow. - Yeah. - And just like in the midst of everything that like on a daily basis would go through or just like from moment to moment. I'm like, sometimes I can have these moments where it's like, God you care. Like this matters to you. Like I'm a blip on the timeline of history. And yet this blip matters. Yeah, it's just, I can't read this psalm without being like, it's that. - And how does that make you feel? Like when you read that and remind it of that, how does it make you feel? - The whole like spectrum of feelings. I can go from, man, I waste so much and God, I'm so thankful that that doesn't even,

like that doesn't make you go, okay, I don't care about this blip anymore. So I'm just like grateful and happy and thankful and joyful and I can have regrets that then make me make different decisions. - Yeah, I love that. - Yeah, the thing that sticks out to me is this section where David's like, God look at my enemies. Like I got people that are coming after me. They're saying this about me. They're liars, they're this, you know, and all that. And then he immediately shifts into like, but I'm gonna praise you and I'm gonna sing a new song. And this is where I'm gonna like shift my focus. And that is like the ultimate reminder to me of like, okay, I can acknowledge the chaos and the frustration and the messiness at times, but I am not the ultimate judge of those things. And I'm not the one that's in control of those things. And I am not as good of a judge or, you know, a leader or whatever as God is. And so it's just like, okay, yeah, I can see that. And then I can let God handle that 'cause I trust that he's way better at that than me. And then I shift my attitude and my posture towards what I can control and what God does like from me, which is singing songs to him and worshiping him. And so it helps me just figure out like, okay, I can see those things, but how do I continually like re-align my priorities

and my attention towards what I can control and then take my hands off of what I can't let that do. - Yeah, when is it hard for you to worship? - When everything's going great, honestly. - Come on, talk about that. - I think a lot of people say, and I do too, if stuff is hitting the fan, I'm like, it can feel hard to praise God at times looking around at the chaos or confusion. But when stuff's awesome, I'm like, God, all right, you're in your, I'm good. Like I'm doing my thing right now. I'm chilling. I will come to you when something messes up. And yeah, when stuff's going awesome, I'm like, who's God? I'm good, I'm good right now. - That's good, yeah. - Yeah, I relate with that. I was like, the most like soulful please happen when I'm in the midst of something. And usually I've gotten there because of choices I made. are going good, I have one of two mine, like, I don't think about that. I'm like, man, I'm just blessed and highly favored tonight. Forget who blessed me and from whom I found favor. Or sometimes I don't, this might be unique to me. I'll have like a thought that's like, wait, but am I just like really off right now that the enemy is like, she's fine. I don't know. She's stumbling on her own way.

Yeah. Yeah. So then I'd be like, okay, God, like, what's going on here? Yeah. Yeah. I'll tell you one that's hard for me is bitterness, man. Yeah. Block my worship. Like when I feel like I'm owed something, especially from God, and I'm not getting, man, I can get so self-righteous and it can really block me. And interestingly, the thing that usually brings me back is when I can get to a place where God brings me to a place of gratitude, like that is the antidote for that bitterness in me is realizing like, you know what, even the thing that I have, I don't deserve. So I'm mad about a thing I didn't get that I think I deserve. Even what I have, I don't deserve, but bitterness can definitely be a block for me when it comes to that. Yeah. Yeah. I have nothing to add, but I just say yes. Yes. Yes. I could sign. Yeah. I could sign. Well, let's talk about worship. There's this whole shift and then he's like, I'm going to worship you, right? And you know, one of the ways obviously David worshiped, he says, I'll use a 10 string lyre harp, you know, like I will, musically, he was musically gifted and he would worship God that way. He was a writer.

He would write. And so I think for me, it begins to open up opportunities for worship to look a lot of different ways. So let's talk about that. What are some other ways that you have worshiped? We, I love singing songs and look forward to singing some songs next time with a bunch of believers. What other ways has worshiped look like for you? Mm-hmm. I think a lot of the time it can be just, where am I giving my time? And am I giving God the proper time that he's due as my father that I should be spending in spent time with to know, because that's where life is found. Like the last verse, verse 15 where it says, "Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord." Like at first, that seems just like circular reasoning. Like, blessed if you are God, like the boats whose God is God, it's like, well, yeah. But it's like, no, who make God their God and who put him in that place is what I'm saying. Yeah. Okay. And it's like, you know, back in that time, they're worshiping golden calves and bronze statues. And I'm like, pfft, those idiots. Like it doesn't work. And I'm like, anyways, back to my phone, like they'd be looking at me and being like, what is this guy doing? Like just staring at this block all day. And so I feel like worshiped to me is a lot of like, I don't know, like look at my credit card statements, look at my time, look at what I'm doing in the morning. Like that's, those are the most important spaces, like where am I spending my time and my money?

That's usually what I'm actively worshiping. That's really good. That's really good. You break down that word worship, it's worship. So it's, what do you ascribe worship to? Like that's the thing you worship and I love what you're saying is like, yeah, I put time towards something that I put worth in, you know, like I value my family. I mean, I hope I'm not worshiping my family, but I love and value my family. And I think you can see that by the time that I, you know, the many, many, many, many, many, many hours of soccer games that I've set on the sidelines for or whatever, my cross country, you know, my daughter running cross country, like because I put value in those things. So I do think it's that I also, I love people and I have people in my life that are like this. Generosity is an act of worship. And what I mean by that is like they're really good at like seeing an opportunity to be generous to someone and they just follow through on it. I have a buddy who literally right now, he's just in the habit of writing postcards to people. When's the last time you got a postcard? Right? Yeah. And he just, he like, and it could be something small or like, Hey man, I was thinking about you today. I just wrote your postcard. When you get that thing in the mail, it's just like, yeah, that's awesome. I think for him, that's an act of worship. Generosity of his words and his time, just by investing in all the 25, 25 cents, how much are stamps down? $50, 85 cents, whatever they are now. But that's another form of worship.

What else? What else comes to mind? I think this is really, really helpful. Coming back to the gratitude thing you were talking, I think you were talking about that just earlier, gratitude's huge. And I think there's a lot of times where I can think things like, Oh, Chuck wrote me a postcard. Oh, that's so nice of him. But I never actually said, thank you, you know, we're like told you for that. And so a way I'm trying to grow in worship right now is when I just get to enjoy something that God has made, I'm trying, and I'll always do this right, but like trying to be very and just like, God, thank you, that you made that. And then I got to be a part of that. I got to, I'm a hockey player. I got to play hockey the other night. And I just had this moment, I was walking out of the rink and I had this like five second thought, where I was just like, dude, that was awesome. I got to move my body and I got to be with people. God, thank you that you've given me a healthy body. And I got to be around people who I don't think know you and I get to have conversations with them about what I do and who I am and my family. And there's just so many parts about it. I'm like, man, how cool is it that you gave us minds to invent this cool thing that we could do for exercise. There's like these layers to it and I was like, love that. God, you're so great for that. I love that. Like you, you know, made all of these different things

and I got to be a part of that thing. Like that's so cool. That's just a thing I can take for granted and have taken for granted for so long in my life. - You're right. - And when I just get to stop and not just like think, oh, that was nice, but actually go a little bit deeper there and be like, man, God, thank you for this, this, this, and this and I got to enjoy life. - Yeah. - And ultimately you because you were the mastermind behind all that stuff. - Yeah. - I think it's a good challenge for today for all of us. Diversify your worship today. - Yeah. - Diversify your worship. If you are listening to music as a way that you worship, do that, great, don't not do that. But maybe think about, is it, you know, stopping and thanking God when you have a good meal or whatever it is, right? If it's, you know, writing, are you gonna take some, you know, take a page out of Davis? Some of us is like, oh man, I do like to write. Maybe that's a way for me to worship. There's all kinds of ways that you can worship God and revival is it, I think revival begins in us as we begin to just, again, where do we put worth? And as we start to focus on God and give him the worth

that he's due, I think it starts to do something for our hearts and I think it starts to revive us. So let's diversify our worship today, see where that takes us. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)