Everyone has opinions about their church’s worship music, and nearly everyone thinks it could be better. This is not a criticism of worship directors, their teams, choirs or other musicians. Rather it is a result of the fact that we all have a yearning to worship in a way that is natural to us, and church worship services cannot appeal to everyone’s individual style. Yet with all the complaining, one should question not their church leadership but themselves; how often do I spend time personally worshiping my Lord? To put it another way, how much effort do you make to pursue his presence?

Worship takes many forms, some of which we’ve discussed already. Prayer and reading the Bible are two forms, though they may not be what we typically think of when we hear the word. Normally we think of song, sometimes we listen and other times we participate by lifting our own voices and, in some traditions, dancing. There is good reason for this, we read about worship in early Israel and it involved all kinds of instruments and the people singing God’s praise. In Revelation we are given a picture of the throne room of God, where a group of angels sing continuously, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the all powerful who was and who is, and who is to come” (Revelation 4.8). This scene should frame our own personal worship.

As a side note, many (myself included) are often put off by the repetitive nature of choruses during our public worship. The repetition of truth in God’s presence should give us some pause before criticizing this aspect of corporate worship.

In this discussion, we are setting aside corporate worship for personal worship. When we sing to God while in silence and solitude we do not concern ourselves with the quality of our voice, or how loud we sing, or focus attention on how good the music is or the voices of the leaders. All we are concerned about is our adoration of the Creator. Start with songs you know from memory (one of my favorites is the Doxology) and move to others you know less well. If you have a hymnal, or pamphlet of praise songs from your church, use it as a guide. Try to pick songs whose subject matter revolves around God’s attributes. Remember, the focus should be on God, not on your pain, crises, or difficult decision.

There will be time to pour out your heart to God concerning your troubles, but remind yourself that God is not a wish-granting genie by first focusing on Him. Worship him. Let him know how much you love him. If God is for you, who can stand against you?

If you are not familiar with it, here is the lyrics to the Doxology. It is an ancient and wonderful place to start and end your time of silence and solitude.

The Doxology

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.