Something New (by Jay Muir)

Have you ever had a moment in your life when someone said something, or you read something, or heard something that made you feel really stupid about an opinion you held in the past that seemed so right at the time? Chances are, if you’re human, and honest with yourself (but if you’re human there’s always a chance you’re not honest with yourself) you have.

This happened to me just a few weeks ago. I’ve been reading a book by Francis Chan called “Crazy Love”, a great book that’s kind of like a wake-up call for Christians to start living the radical life of “crazy love” that God both demonstrates and calls us to. In the accompanying DVD, Chan tells a story about a girl in a worship team he knows who seems so joyful and refreshed every time she’s worshipping God. So much so that she stands out from the other members of her team. When he asks her why everything seems new and exciting to her in her worship time, she replies:

“I just ask God to do something new in my life and my worship every day, and He does.”

Such a simple request – and so obvious! Of all God’s many wonderful and mysterious attributes, the Bible tells us that He is first of all a creator – and not just any creator, but the Creator of all!

Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

To me, as an artist and a pastor of worship arts at my church, this means that God is the ultimate Artist. He created breathtaking beauty and splendor from absolute nothingness. What other artist living or dead can make that claim? Since God is the ultimate artist – and all artists love to create – it shouldn’t surprise us that He wants to create something new in our own lives every time we give Him the opportunity.

My problem is that I don’t often give Him the opportunity, which brings me back to why I was feeling stupid recently.

After hearing this little story re-told by Francis Chan, I immediately thought back to the past Sunday’s worship service at my church. The Sunday prior we had just experienced an amazing time of worship, a wonderful time of connection and communion with God and each other. So the following Sunday I fervently prayed, from the stage in front of the whole congregation, that God would re-create that same experience as we began our worship time that Sunday. I thought, “yeah, last week was awesome, let’s have more of the same, God!” Never once did it even cross my mind that God might have something new in store for us that Sunday! Why would I limit God in my prayer by asking Him for more of the same when He is perfectly willing and able to give me a fresh perspective and experience of Him every time I ask?!

When I realized what I’d done, I felt stupid. It’s not that what I did was so wrong. It’s not wrong to remember great moments of the past and wish for more moments like those in the future. It’s normal. But allow me to suggest that when it comes to the Creator God of the universe, the One who is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,” (Eph. 3:20) this approach might be a tad bit shortsighted.

What about you? Have you found yourself clinging to past blessings from God, asking Him to do more of the same in your life? Try asking for Him to do something new in your worship time, in your prayer time, in your life. Maybe He wants to give you a fresh word for your congregation, a new revelation of His character and power, or a new song to sing to Him and share with others. Whatever the circumstance, God wants to respond with bold brushstrokes of colours you’ve never even imagined on the canvass of your life. Don’t hand him a bucket of brown paint and tell Him to paint the fence…again.

Jay Muir is the Pastor of Worship Arts at Moncton Wesleyan Church in Moncton, NB.