I Watched His Face

“Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance.” (Psalm 89:15)

I watched a guitarist. He played a chord progression over and over – then recorded it and then was his own accompaniment. I watched his face as he listened to the Lord and played as led by the Lord. Music….from God….through this man flowed out of his heart – through his hands – through an instrument and into our hearts….over us. Saturating us with music….from God.

I watched his face….as he listened to the Lord. He was not merely playing.

He was not himself merely an instrument; as a child of the King he, too, is a prince in the Kingdom of God.

God was ministering to him as well.

I watched his face….concentration? Pain? Ecstasy? It was not my place to judge.

It is evident, though, that he was not going to emerge from this encounter with God unscathed.

I could almost see around him – the conflict. The war. There was, in the heavenlies, a battle….to steal his focus….a battle……to drive him from worship. He stepped closer to the Lord – worshipped Him with his focus.

I watched his face – a warrior’s face.

As his worship rose and fell…..and then the music faded, his warring and worship subsided into an internal battle….the battle we all share. The unseen battle of spiritual royalty for the kingdom we represent.

The battle that grows us.

Later I sat and soaked in what I had witnessed. I allowed the Lord to speak to me and He reminded me of why He drew my gaze to the player in the first place.

I watched his face as he set up his equipment….as he went about laying wires and boxes and deliberately connected them. Lovingly. Slowly…with reverence. I realized…..this, too, was worship toward the Lord.

As he took the equipment that he knew the Lord presently would be speaking through and assembled it he did so with respect. As he arranged the wires and the chair…..it was worship. As he held the guitar straight up and leaned his ear in close and tuned his instrument….I watched his face.

“As in water face reflects face, so a man's heart reveals the man.” (Proverb 27:19)

He listened to God…speaking through his own heart…and on through the strings of a guitar, preparing to speak to the player and through the player to us – other princes and princesses in His kingdom.

It was worship. Concentrated time and effort and focus. Worship. Giving to the Lord.

Then he played.

As he played the sound went out…and as usual….we could not see the sound. But as is true with the Holy Spirit…while not seeing the means we could see the effect.

All across the room people…God’s favorite thing…HIS children….received an unexpected gift from Him: fellowship with the Father, through the yielded fingers of a brother.

I see several things in this. One is that the player……was like the Father.

“In the light of the king's face is life, and his favor is like a cloud of the latter rain.” (Proverb 16:15)

Everything He does is prepared by Him….lovingly and with concentration and focus. Everything He has ever done was done in this way. The Creation. The Flood. The Incarnation of Jesus.

The unfolding of His plan for us. The conception of a child. A sunrise.

Nothing is by chance.

Everything is just so…just….as it pleases Him.

Another thing that I can see in this is that whenever I have watched anyone minister in the Spirit, it looked just like that: concentration tempered by quiet confidence. Confidence that comes from knowing He is directing……preparing and performing….through that person.

Our similarity in this was striking – while not a musician….I have ministered like he has.

I KNOW his King.

I KNOW that worship.

The last is that I could identify with him in being both the player and the hearer…..the instrument and the ear…..the giver and the receiving heart. And so can you.

This is our destiny: to worship in hearing and speaking….in doing and receiving…in BEING His.

He is the I AM.

“O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.” (Song of Solomon 2:14)

Pastor Mike McInerney

Mike McInerney Ministries, Inc.

Decatur, TX

© June 17, 2005

(For use with permission)