Eza 3:13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people 's weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away. (ESV)
Christians tend to sing a lot, but I wonder if we celebrate enough. The Hebrews were not a people to stuff their emotions. When they cried they really cried, and when they celebrated they really celebrated. In the circles in which I grew up we didn't trust emotion. The Hebrews embraced it. We tend to act like the saying, "Slow and steady wins the race" is about emotions. We like things, but there is danger in getting too excited. We dislike things, but let's not get too upset. Of course, often that stuffed emotion eventually bubbles out in an emotional explosion which we then pretend never happened as we go back to "slow and steady." Were the Hebrews sometimes carried away by their emotion into overreacting or even sinning? Yes. But then do those of us who stuff our emotions really sin any less? Aren't we really just as fickle?
So, little emotion or much emotion is not really the issue. But when I see Israel celebrating the laying of the foundation it makes me wonder. When I hear that the rejoicing and the weeping were so loud that people could not distinguish between them it makes me wonder. I wonder if perhaps we should celebrate a little more. I tend to be a sceptic. When someone makes a decision my natural tendency is to think, "That's great, but we'll wait and see what actually happens." But I wonder whether my own scepticism may even contribute to their failure. What if I celebrated their victory instead of waiting to see? Would that actually encourage them to continue on? What if my scepticism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy? What if celebrating actually encourages people to persevere?
I don't think that I suddenly need to become someone I'm not by becoming all emotional. But maybe I do need to embrace the truth that emotion is from God just as much as every other aspect of my being. Maybe, just maybe, I need to celebrate more. Somehow worship is connected to emotion in this chapter. Maybe as I worship I need to learn to embrace the emotions God has given me. Maybe I need to be okay with the tears that sometimes quietly well up, or the shout of joy that I find myself holding back so I don't look foolish. Maybe that's the whole point. Maybe my lack of emotion is just as self-centered and self-focused as the excessive emotion I accuse others of having. Maybe in worrying about proper emotional expression I have hindered the Spirit and missed worship altogether because my focus has been on myself.
I'm not sure what the answers are to some of these questions, but I think that it may be time to at last consider them. Father, teach me what it means to properly respond to you. Help me discover the role of emotion in worship. Let me see you in a way I have missed because I have been too worried about what others might think, or how I might look. Let me worship you from the heart.
By His grace,
Rick Weinert
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