Some of you may notice this is my first blog in a coon’s age. Unfortunately my computer screen broke at the end of our second month in Cambodia, so I’ve been unable to get into the blogosphere until now. By the grace of God, I found a Philippino computer repair store that got it fixed, so I’m back in the game. Anyway, here’s my first trip back into the blogging world.
One of the great adventures that World Racers enjoy is the ability to visit churches across a wide array of different cultures.
One of my fondest overall memories from the Race will be the fact that I was able to be a part of so many different tongues and nations worshipping the Lord. I was able to worship on top of a mountain with the Bulgarian church; I withstood a two hour Indian church service without a translator (whether on not Candy Crush helped get me through it is irrelevant); I worshipped with countless fellow missionaries in Cambodia and Thailand; and I’ve experienced a 3½ hour Swazi service, which included no small amount of dancing, hand waving, and what I can only describe as a conga line?
One thing that has stuck out all along the way is that there is one word in particular that seems to cross all borders of race and nationality; a word that first appears in Psalm 104 as a two-word Hebrew phrase meaning “Praise the Lord”: Hallelu Yah.
After appearing in a handful of Psalms, we don’t see the word again until Revelation when John hears the multitudes of Heaven shouting, “Hallelujah”.
I’ve often wondered why it is that of all the Hebrew words that you can find throughout the Bible, this seems to be the only one that has carried on to this day as a part of nearly every culture.
The only logical explanation I can conclude is that God shows us through the revelation of John is that this as a small glimpse of what Paradise is going to be.
When we get to Heaven, our main purpose for the rest of eternity is to praise the Lord, so it’s very likely that every believer from every culture has been raised to know this word as the ultimate means of praising our creator.
In Isaiah 55:12 (or the opening track of Sufjan Stevens’ Seven Swans album), we read about what happens when those who thirst for righteousness come to the Living Waters: “You will go out with joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”
I’m not sure if that idea has ever truly been understood by our puny human imagination, but just think about what that means: when you come to worship the Lord, and become part of his existence, not only will choirs of angels and people from every tribe, tongue, and nation be worshipping before our creator, but even the mountains and hills will be singing His praise, and the trees will be clapping their (proverbial) hands for the great I Am.
We have been put on this earth for one purpose: to serve and worship the Lord. This is also what we can look forward to when we attain eternal life, but for the time being, in our temporary existence, we’ve been given this small form of worship, acknowledging that the Lord is the only one worthy of our praise.
