MUSIC BLOG 05-22-2025
MUSIC BLOG
05-22-2025
EXPERIENCING GOD
To comment that life is a journey seems to be quite an understatement! Anyone with any bit of tarnish on them can clearly see that we weave our way throughout our lives on a path that is leading somewhere. One may question where that destination is heading as well as the purpose of the travels. For a Christian, there is both a plan and a purpose to our lives. I admit that there have been times in my life when the clarity and purpose of my journey was crystal clear. I knew exactly where I was on my journey and what I was supposed to do or accomplish. However, that has not and may not always be the case. I have found that life isn’t quite as simple.
One of the times that I knew for certain that God was leading and I was following was the end of 1999. Our choir had begun a Bible Study called “Experiencing God”. This Bible study is no usual Bible study. In the study, Henry Blackaby chronicles his life and his journey as he discovered how to live a life of submission to God’s plan much like the great men of the Bible. Blackaby instructs the learner how to listen and submit in their own circumstances and drives home the message that our churches need to do the same. The main tenet of the study is this, “Throughout the Bible, God is speaking to people, but it’s always for His purposes, to invite people into His work!” and this thought as well, “God doesn’t necessarily speak in every moment, but we should be in such a relationship with God that when He does speak, we are able to receive it.”
The study lasted 13 weeks, and as we were doing the Bible study, we were also preparing a full worship musical centered on the scriptural themes of the study. To say that we were immersed in Experiencing God might be an understatement! A few weeks or so after we performed that musical I received a call from a friend of mine at a music supply store in Spartanburg, SC. She had a favor to ask me. She told me that God had led her to call me. Immediately, my interest was piqued. This company was known for its big conferences, one in the summer in Spartanburg and the other in January at Hilton Head. Both conferences had lots of music to peruse and hopefully purchase, but the summer conference had music premieres by choirs and orchestras, with the composer often in the audience. As my friend explained, one of the groups that had been asked to premiere a Christmas musical experienced a great tragedy. Their minister of music, who would have prepared the choir, died very suddenly. The choir had no one to lead them, and they had to back out of the commitment. My friend told me that God had impressed my name on her heart as someone who might fulfill that commitment.
Wow! Several things about this endeavor were challenging. 1- Our choir had never done a premiere and had not experienced that kind of pressure or scrutiny. 2- Because of the situation, we had a very short window to learn the music. 3- Most of the choirs who performed at this venue did so in professional attire. 4-The venue was 4 hours away, and we would need transportation. Although I knew in my heart what we should do, I told my friend that I would ask the choir that night and call her back in the morning. I did pray about this, but my mind was in sync with the Holy Spirit to the point that I recognized when God was speaking, and now it was up to me to respond.
I laid out the scenario to the choir that night. The choir was quiet as I told them of the crisis. There was a deep sense of sorrow for the choir that had lost their minister of music. When I told them of the request that had been made to us and what it would entail, the choir got quiet. Then one by one, people began to share what they had just learned from Experiencing God. It was clear to the choir that whatever obstacles would come from this decision, God was leading us to accept the challenge and all its ramifications. I gave the choir one more challenge, and this was a big one. I told them that if I was to lead them we could not and would not use the music. We would sing from memory. I had been trying to convince the choir to sing from memory for 5 years with no luck. For whatever reason, they all agreed that this merited us to sing from memory.
Singing in Spartanburg changed our lives and changed our choir. Because of our obedience, we had a direct connection with the Brooklyn Tabernacle singers. Within days of our singing, 9-11 happened, and New York was on the world’s stage in a heart-wrenching way. I planned to use the musical at Christmas, but it seems that God’s plan was even bigger. After 9-11, I felt led to call the Brooklyn Tabernacle and request those same singers we sang with at Spartanburg to sing with us in Fayetteville, NC. It so happened that the only date the singers were available was the date I had already chosen.
God continued to do amazing things in us as long as we had our hearts tuned to Him.
I don’t know who needed to read this. It might have been more important for me to write it than for you to read it. For what it’s worth, God is always at work around His people. Sometimes we must first let go of our agendas, wants, needs, and desires to join Him. In the study, we were taught that, like Moses at the burning bush, God only shows up when His people are looking. Ask God today to open the eyes of your heart. God isn’t finished with you, but He might be waiting for you to move.
Blessings,
Marty