Presence before Production

Last weekend I had the opportunity to hear a very powerful message from a fellow worship leader and musician. Of the many profound statements he made, the one that stood out to me the most was that we must be presence-driven and not production-driven. The presence that he was referring to of course was the presence of God. Being a director of a worship and arts ministry, this particular statement resounded loudly in my heart and mind and caused me to take a deeper look at how we approach the place of corporate worship.

So many times in our results-driven, instant-gratification society, we want to see things happen. Not only that, but we want to see things happen right now. That mindset has caused us to often times judge the place of corporate worship from a wrong perspective. If the music is played perfectly, if the singers are right on, if the songs are good, if everyone is really energetic, THEN worship was good. Our thought many times is, 'Did everything go well?' and not, 'Were we in His presence?' This is not the attitude which should accompany worship offered to the Ruler of all Creation.

As we look into the word of God, a great example of the type of attitude we should have toward worship is found in Exodus 33. God called Moses to lead the children of Israel into the land He was giving them, but their prior disobedience in creating the golden calf upon which to focus their worship caused God to respond with the following in verse 3 "... for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." They had desired to SEE something - a product/result - so they created an idol upon which to focus their worship. We too can make this mistake if we focus our worship on the 'products' of the day: good songs, flawless music, great crowd response, good lighting, etc. Instead, let us choose the heart Moses expressed in verse 15: , "If Your Presence does not go [with us], do not bring us up from here." In the midst of an intense discussion with the Lord, Moses' cry was not, "Will you do it Lord? Will You help us get there?" He was in total opposition to being production-oriented. His simple plea was that if the children of Israel would not be privileged to have the accompaniment of Father God's holy presence, then there was no purpose in even taking the journey. No sense in having what would seem to others to be wonderful benefits, without the giver of those benefits. No point in having a 'flawless' worship service, if the presence of the Lord is not there.

Upon repenting of our sin to follow the ways of Father God, our immediate response should be worship - which is truly summed up as a recognition of who He is, His authority and subsequently realizing that our obedience to Him is what's required. That is the place of truly abiding in His presence. The power of corporate worship is in a group of people recognizing the aforementioned points, declaring them, and most importantly living them. Our enjoyment or use of good music is only a part of this equation when we realize that in light of His holiness, we offer ALL that we are to honor Him (Romans 12:1). We must be focused on what it is to abide in His presence and not just have a good production - whatever that may entail.

Today and everyday, our desire must be to never get so overwhelmed with producing good results that we leave God's presence behind. Now certainly, we must prepare and be competent so that what we do is excellent and not a distraction to ourselves and others, but never to the point that our preparation and competence become our golden calf so to speak. We must be stripped of any desire to put anything above the Father so that He has the place He deserves in our lives: #1. In that place, our preparation and competence become acts of worship as we abide in His presence. Day by day, let us press on to embrace a life where His presence is far above anything else. Production is good in many areas, but let's never let it supersede the powerful principle of abiding in Him. Simply stated: let's always keep presence before production.