You said...

...ask and I'll give the nations to you...that's the cry of my heart...

It's been a long time since I've been able to sing this song. If you haven't heard it, check it out...it's a great piece of worship music by Hillsong (do they make a bad worship song?). No lie, it's really good, but I can't sing it. For the past three years or so I want to sit down while everyone else is worshiping. I want to sit and pray.

But for some reason I don't, I remain standing and I pray. Every time I hear this song I feel conviction. Why? Maybe because it isn't the cry of my heart. I want it to be, but if it was, then I'd be sharing my faith a lot more. Then I'd sing the song asking for more of the nations, rejoicing in God's promises.

A digression: I've been going through Hebrews and it's been fantastic. What a strong argument for the Supremacy of Christ? In Hebrews 6:13-20 the author talks about the certainty of God's promise. God blessed Abraham and swore by himself, "Surely I will bless you and multiply you." God swore by himself (because there is nothing greater than himself) to show how serious He is about his promises to Abraham - and us. God wouldn't break a promise He made...that's out of his character, but to show how serious he is, he swears by himself. What does that mean? It means that we can hope, it means that we should press on to seek God because He's not messing around. He's not taking away His promises. Maybe I should stop focusing on the nations part and rejoice that God is faithful to His word instead! Maybe that's the bigger picture of this song.

Now I have gotten off topic. This is how God usually speaks to me. I have an issue, so I think about it, and many times i conclude that i miss the point completely...or maybe I found the point...so maybe I actually found the real topic for this blog...

If that's what you think, then you may want to stop here because I'm about to make my original point...(Digression closed)

But what I think bothers me most about this song is the asking for the nations part, as previously mentioned. What bothers me more is not that it isn't the cry of my heart, but that we, as a church, ask for the nations and don't always follow through with that. I think of my church, Alliance Christian Fellowship - a church of around 200 or so members (and many more regular attendants) on a Penn State campus of over 40,000 people. Men and women from all over the world come to this institution to study whatever they want. Every populated continent, over 100 countries represented...God has given us the nations.

Sometimes we're so busy that we miss the big picture. I'm not trying to be critical of individuals here - I know some people who do a great job of this. I'm terrible at it, but God has provided us a Harvest. He has been faithful, shouldn't we be faithful to him? This song is borderline annoying to me because it's the same thing every time. It's an amazing worship song - the words, the way it builds - and not doubt people raise their hands and respond...but from my perspective, nothing really happens. I'll be the first to admit, that sounds extremely critical...maybe it is...but as powerful as the lyrics of this song are, I don't think we completely grasp it.

A story I once heard:

There once was a church full of ducks. Every Sunday, all of the ducks and little ducklings waddled into the service, sang their little duck songs, and listened to pastor duck's message: "Friends, you have wings! You can fly! Spread your wings and fly!" And all of the ducks and ducklings quacked loudly and joyously at the message, for it was so incredibly true.

And they all waddled out of the church feeling so blessed and encouraged by the message.

I think we should be jumping through windows to meet the nations after we hear this song. THAT is the cry of my heart. For me and my brothers and sisters.