God's Creativity and Purpose

The Anonymous Worship Leader 2 Kings 3

Before I left for Costa Rica, I received an encouraging letter from a friend in Torrance, CA. He reminded me of the power and purpose of an anonymous worship leader.

My friend writes:
"You know worship is key. The anointing of Elisha to bring forth a prophetic word to save the bacon of Israel (errant), Judah (favored) and Edom (from Ishmael and therefore outcast, but with promise) was initiated by "bring me a musician" (2 Kings 3:1-21)."

Paraphrased, though the leadership of Israel was struggling at that time, Moab’s rebellion led them (Israel) to attack and take over. However, once the decision was made, fear caused the Israeli leaders to second-guess themselves. So they went to Elisha for a prophetic word. Elisha responded by calling a worship leader who was filled with the Spirit of God and played a prophetic song. The prophecy, given in worship, gave Israel the confidence to move forward in their original plan.

My friend writes:
"Had that word NOT have come forth, all three legs of the redemptive promise were in jeopardy of annihilation, and all the promised future plans of God would have been without recipient. Talk about critical mass! Thank God for that word! And thank God for the unnamed musician, whose ministry brought forth the spirit of prophesy, which Revelation tells us is the testimony of Jesus."

God’s Timing, Creativity and Purpose

I have reflected on the different purposes in worship before, but here we see it was through worship ministry that an entire nation was encouraged to move forward in the purposes of God. This is incredibly exciting and encouraging as a worship leader who often steps in for a brief moment to encourage a group. However, I also find myself contemplating God’s timing and his generational creativity. Let me explain.

I get caught up in a vocabulary and a perspective that describes the emerging church as postmodern believers, a generation responding to the change in our culture and society, technology and family. But I know the Living God has tremendous purpose in everything. God’s timing is more than perfect. His creativity spans more than geography and ethnicity, but it spans time as well. Should not my first instinct be, when I see an entire generation emerging, unique in 100 ways from the one before, that it is a display of God’s creativity and purpose! When I travel and I see time and time again that young people and leaders are artists and worshippers, is it not our Creator, who in His perfect timing and purpose, needs the Church to be ready, and needs the believers to be encouraged and empowered to step forward? Just as Elisha called a musician when the time called for it and indeed the Lord released in the musician the song the King needed to hear.

I completely agree and see, that in the natural, postmodern culture effects this generation and it is different than the one before (in the natural). But my mind is being renewed. In the spiritual, I believe God has injected the emerging generation with a DNA for worship and it is to fulfill his good purpose in restoring the Kingdom.

P.S. Revelation vs. Foundation

My friend Doug reminds me that I cannot stand on revelation, only foundation. Revelation is exciting and can help us grow, but unless we are standing on the foundation, which is God’s Love, it will not do anything. And so, I believe the foundation here is Father always fulfilling His purpose. He fulfills his promises and for this reason I have hope. I also know that God works all things for good in those who love him, so whether I get swept up in postmodern dialogue or not, I know God is using the believers in this generation to bring about His purpose. Isn’t it exciting to know, though, that our worship and coming into our unique creative expression has so much purpose in the Kingdom!