Keep the BeatSample

DAY 5: TOO WEAK

When our high school band marched onto the field at halftime of the Friday night football games, the percussion section would drum to keep everyone on beat. The bass drum was the center piece. These drummers had to pound out the cadence so that the hundred-plus members of the band could hear it and march in rhythm. We had a freshman on bass drum one year and he played timidly. Rather than beating the drum with authority, he struck it weakly. The rest of us couldn’t hear the bass drum and found it difficult to keep the beat. We ended up out of step with one another.

It’s easy to get too fast, too loud, and too free. But we also have those days and weeks and more when life isn’t good, and our spiritual vibrancy gets too weak.

When life beats us down, worship lifts us up.

No one understood this better than David.

In I Samuel 21, we find David on the run. Saul is trying to kill him and so he escapes to the cave of Adullam. But he wasn’t alone there for long, for “others began coming—men who were in trouble or in debt or who were just discontented—until David was the captain of about 400 men.”

David is the future king. He has been anointed by the prophet Samuel. He has defeated Goliath. And yet, here he was hiding out in a cave, and not a palace, likely frustrated with his circumstances at that moment.

The cave of Adullam has become the cave of Discontent.

As the adage goes, misery loves company. I can only imagine the conversations around the campfire with David and those 400 men in the cave, one-upping each other with tales of woes, and bemoaning everything wrong in their worlds. We don’t know what was said or how long David dwelt in that cave, but regarding this season of his life, he wrote:

I will praise the Lord at all times.
I will constantly speak his praises.
I will boast only in the Lord;
let all who are helpless take heart.
Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness;
let us exalt his name together.
I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.
He freed me from all my fears.
Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;
no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened;
he saved me from all my troubles.
For the angel of the Lord is a guard;
he surrounds and defends all who fear him.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
Fear the Lord, you his godly people,
for those who fear him will have all they need.
Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry,
but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing.

With the world beating him down, David worshipped God.

Worship is not reminding God how great He is, it’s reminding us how great God is. When we worship—whether in song or reading or prayer—we are declaring who He is. In doing so, we remember who we are and whose we are. “Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt his name together,” David sang.

I visited Grand Cayman while on a Caribbean cruise a few years back and so I booked a scuba excursion to see Cheeseburger Reef during the stop. You can swim to it directly from the shore so all I needed was some rental gear.

As I was getting suited up with the other divers, I noticed storm clouds starting to roll in from the horizon. As we waded into the water from the boat ramp, the waves were picking up, tossing us around while we tried to get our masks and fins on. Then the rain started. Yet, our dive instructor urged us on, so we swam atop the rough waters for about fifty yards. But as we swam, my disappointment and anger were growing. This is not what it was supposed to be like. This is the Caribbean! I was expecting warm sunshine, balmy breezes, and colorful coral reefs. Instead, I get rain clouds, wind gusts, and lightning strikes overhead.

I was floating in a sea of discontent.

The instructor gave the signal for descent. I released the air from my flotation device and began to sink below the surface. It was amazing. This was the Caribbean that I was promised. This was the colorful coral reef and aquatic life that I had hoped for. There, thirty feet below the surface, the world looked so different. The anxiety above was replaced by tranquility below. Everything had changed, and yet, nothing had changed. When I turned to look back at the surface, I could still see the rain pelting the water and the lightning flashing overhead. The storms were still present up above, but now I had a new perspective. For the next 45 minutes, I explored Cheeseburger Reef with a heart full of gratitude and awe.

Worship allows us to descend into the goodness of God. To find peace in the storm. Worship doesn’t change our circumstances, but it can change our perspective. David turned the cave of Discontent into a cave of Praise with this reminder: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” When life beats us down, worship lifts us up.

REFLECTION

Worship is not reminding God how great He is. It’s reminding us how great God is. We are declaring who He is. In doing so, we remember who we are and whose we are. When you find yourself in the cave of discontent, how can you use worship (singing, reading, or praying) to change your perspective?