The Miserable Land of the Unamazed

Last night was one of those tossy-turny events where I alternated my anxieties among a variety of subjects. I worried about my kids and then other people’s kids. Worried about my husband’s worries about other people’s worries. Broke it up with some worries about how I would pay bills, tackle laundry, and load the dishwasher before going into work tomorrow. You know.

When I finally pulled out of the tangled covers and sat down with Bible in hand, I was desperate for a calming of spirit.

Lord, I need something from you this morning, and I don’t even know what it is. Just something. 

I opened up to Isaiah, where I’ve continued in my three-year trek through my one-year Bible. Lord, you know I’m faithfully reading Isaiah, but I don’t get it. What a confusing book.

But I read and read.

That’s when God gave me the something I needed, in one little section of Isaiah that I was able to comprehend.

The Lord says:

“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.

Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder…”

(Isaiah 29:13-14 NIV)

Isaiah isn’t a cheerful book –God is getting ready to let his people have it, because they’ve forgotten to be amazed by him. 

Do I live amazed?

 

I wondered when was the last time I had been astounded by God, and I decided it was a few days ago when I stopped in to my son’s bedroom to say hello. He was listening to Run to You, by Pentatonix, and he offered me an invitation to sit in what he called the “triangle of awesomeness” -the seat that puts you at the apex of sound in front of two speaker monitors. It was as if the a cappella group were standing two feet from me, and their tight harmony moving into purposeful discord was marvelous -a thing of God.

As I remembered what it felt like to be in the triangle of awesomeness, listening to that song, I forgot my worries. The knot in my stomach eased, and my shoulders relaxed. I realized the answer to anxiety is worship. I had been amazed by God’s handiwork of music and sound, and it removed me from my worries and lifted my heart and mind to something beautiful outside of myself.

Dear God, may I never go a day without applauding you, I prayed.

Scary thing it would be, as I know from reading the book of Isaiah, to have a heart so cold and distant that God would have to shock us into awe. Better to keep a constant eye open for God’s extraordinary handiwork.