I still remember the day when I first experienced Nintendo. I was just a little kid, probably 6 or 7 years old, when my neighbor invited me over for a surprise. It seemed like an eternity as I waited in his basement for the announcement to come upstairs and see what the big surprise was. The time finally came. I ran up the stairs and my eyes settled on the TV in the family room. What was on the screen was one of the most wonderful & magical things I had ever seen in my 6 (or 7) years of life; Super Mario Brothers.
It took a while before my neighbor surrendered the controller so I could play. But when he finally handed it over to me, I began to try to figure what each button did – the “A” button and the “B” button.
Fast forward 20 years. Video games have come a long way! The era of the two-button controller has ended. Now some of the controllers have more buttons, knobs & joysticks than my car. (I just realized that I sound like I’m getting old… “Back when I was your age…”) I don’t play video games that often anymore except for the occasional game of Mario Kart with my brothers-in-law. When we do sit down to play, something in me misses the simplicity of the two-button era.
I have always been stuck by the events of Isaiah 6. Speaking of his own experience, Isaiah says:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
There’s also a scene in Revelation 4 where John sees the throne of God. Surrounding the throne are 4 living creatures who are worshipping. Verse 8 says:
Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”
When I sit back, close my eyes and imagine these two scenes, I see the seraphs and the living creatures as having the best view of God. They’re close to Him, enjoying Him. They’re overcome with joy and awe as they experience His glory. They’re caught up in the fullness of His Presence. And as they’re experiencing much more of God than we can presently comprehend, they endlessly worship using a simple phrase: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty”.
I grew up in a church tradition that generally looked down upon lyrically simplistic worship. It was, and still is, said by critics in my church body that the new worship songs don’t have enough “spiritual meat” to them thus they shouldn’t be used for worship. I love the lyrically rich hymns. As a songwriter myself, I greatly appreciate the time, energy & skill that goes into crafting deep & profound poetry. But I also love simplicity. Like the seraphs & the living creatures, I love to concentrate on a single attribute of God when I worship. It strengthens my appreciation, understanding & awe of God’s character, which then draws me to worship Him even more.
But so often I find myself barreling through line after line or verse after verse of a song. Many times I don’t allow myself to linger long enough to make the lyrics my own worship to God. Of course I’m not saying it’s wrong to use hymns or lyrically rich songs in worship, I just find something special and beneficial in simplicity.
“Spiritual meat” is not found in the complexity of the lyrics but in the content of them. Like the phrase “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty” or even “Jesus loves me”, the lyrics are simplistic but the content is anything but. Allowing ourselves to linger a bit when we worship opens up greater understanding into Who we’re singing to. If the seraphs and the living creatures can endlessly find fresh depth in a simple phrase of worship, many treasures await us as we dig deeper into the most foundational truths of God.
So often what initially seems simplistic turns out to be more deep and profound than we ever could have imagined. Maybe that’s what makes simplicity beautiful.
Feel free to leave a comment below to start some conversations
Simplicity…the Seraphs were worshiping God with their hearts, that’s all worship is, worshiping God with our hearts. He is pleased with short and simple. I may be way off in my thinking but when I sing to God sometimes its’s just like a prayer. Didn’t God say not to ramble on…sometimes plain and simple praise and worship is what pleases God. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on simplicity it has obviously captured my attention. I often think how simple my prayers are, I’m not eloquent at all, but like a song, my prayers are simple and “simplicity IS beautiful!”
Both of those scenes … most particularly the one in Revelations connects with my heart more profoundly than any complex set of words can express. I find day a depth that I can’t come to the end of in the “song” or “statement” … “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty … who was, is and is to come!”
Dave, what I love about the way God made you, is your creative ability to see connections where others may not! When I see them too and they inspire me!!!