Sunday mornings can be somewhat hectic for me. I'm usually up early, reviewing the set list to make sure the songs for worship are just perfect, tweaking the key changes and transitions up until the last possible minute. While the final set is printing off, I'm trying to eat a bagel and put on my shoes at the same time. Slipping the song set into my briefcase, I yell a "love you" over my shoulder to my wife and head out to the car with one or two of my kids in tow.
Arriving at the church building, someone is already prepping the songs for projection and the sound tech is checking all the mics. I make copies of the songs while the worship team is warming up, then distribute the sets and sit down at the piano. We pray, then dive right into practice. We hit the highlights of familiar songs and linger over newer ones, ironing out the kinks until everything is smooth.
People start arriving and we wrap up our practice. I'm off to find the senior pastor to review the announcements and talk to the greeters and servers to update them on any changes to the order of service. I cue the a/v team to start the countdown for worship, then grab a glass of water and head back stage. Two more minutes, and we'll be worshiping God, but I've got to catch my breath first.
When I finally sit down the piano, with the worship team in place and the countdown ticking off the last seconds, my mind sometimes wanders to a lonely cave on mountain in Israel, thousands of years ago:
"And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."
The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" "
-- 1 Kings 19:9-13
What is most convicting about this scripture for me is not that God had to ask Elijah what he was doing there. It's that God had to ask him twice. Like Elijah, I don't think I always get it right the first time either.
"What are you doing here, Rob?" I'm leading worship, God. I put all the chord charts together and worked out the transitions so they were perfect, God. And I rehearsed with the worship team and we sound pretty good, God. And the sound tech and the servers and the preacher are all informed on how things are supposed to go, God. I've got everything under control.
But it's not really about me, is it? My worship, my prayers, everything I do to prepare, are meaningless unless God is at the center of it all. My heart starts there, and I know it is true, but how easy it is to slip into habits of practice and start to rely on my own strength and power. So God asks me again: "What are you doing here, Rob?"
Next time you find yourself racing through life, trying to do it all on your own, starting to feel sorry for yourself for all that you've done that's gone unnoticed, stop for a moment to listen. God's voice is there whispering to you, "What are you doing here?" God created you for a purpose, and He has a plan for your life. Listen to His voice, remind yourself of what is true, and pursue Him today.
