In the beginning of Tanzania I gave a sermon on the presence of God. I have found and increased desire for God’s presence as I have traveled the world feeling like a foreigner and stranger in the land. In the sermon, I talked about the twenty-four elders described in Revelation 4:4.
They are these dignified men who sit on thrones in the courts of God. But as they sit, there are four living creatures who “Day after day and night after night they keep on saying, ‘Holy holy holy is the Lord God, the Almight- the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come’.
And every time they say this, the twenty-four elders are overcome with the presence of God.
These dignified older men suddenly look at the face of the God of the universe and they jump up off their thrones, take the crowns from their heads and lay them down before the throne of God. As they do this, they fall face down and find themselves saying
“You are worthy; oh Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased”
The dignified elders become so overwhelmed by their encounter with God that they fall face down in a most undignified way. And they do this day after day and night after night.
As I continued to study Revelation I found that this description of dignified elders becoming undignified happens five more times. These elders are constantly being fools for their God. So if these elders can have the ability to lose their composure in the face of God, then can’t I, as a silly girl traveling the world, be more undignified? Even if I look like a fool.
One night at a girl’s school in Uganda I think I got to experience a little picture of what it looks like to be that excited about Jesus. Our team and met and talked to these girls earlier in the week and they had been fairly reserved and quiet. So we planned to come that evening with a short speech, a song and a Q and A session with the girls.
What we found when we walked into the room was almost overwhelming. Two hundred plus girls were singing praises to Jesus. All they had was a drum and their voices and it was one of the most incredible sounds I’ve heard in my life.
In Africa people sing from their diaphragms and it comes out almost as a shout. So to combine that many voices with just a drum brought chills to my arms and took my breath away. When we stood to sing for them, we invited them to join us if they knew the song. We started to sing…
I’m trading my sorrows
I’m trading my shame
I’m laying it down for the joy of the Lord
I’m trading my sickness
I’m trading my pain
I’m laying it down for the joy of the Lord
And then our voices were completely overtaken by theirs. They sang in a way that put grins on our faces and strained our voices. We all began to dance together before the Lord and I felt my knees and hands shaking with the power that was breaking up the darkness and silence of the night.
The song was broken as we frequently got swept away with our singing, but it was one fo the most powerful songs I’ve ever sang. There was not fear of what the other person thought, it was simply unadulterated joy and worship of our Savior.
We got the opportunity to throw our crowns before Jesus’ throne and say to Him “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power.” And our undignified praise joined that of the twenty four elders to glorify God the Almighty!
