Psalm 40
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that more often than not, we rush head first into worship without even considering what 1) we should be saying to God and 2) what He is trying to communicate to us. David, who I consider to be a real pro when it comes to understanding worship, begins a great Psalm of Worship by waiting. Now, in our church, waiting to worship means slurping coffee and munching on goodies, chatting it up with church friends, and scoping out the best seat in the worship center. Frankly, I don't see many people waiting patiently.

I really like how the Amplified Bible starts off this passage. . . "I WAITED patiently and expectantly for the Lord." Not just patient. David waited "expectantly." I put a lot of stock in what the leaders and team do up front to set the stage for worship. But if the average church member comes walking through the door and they are not coming "expectantly", I wonder how much they're really going to get out of worship anyway.

Waiting is a difficult thing. We are, especially in the American culture, extremely impatient. We have fast food to eat, we have fast internet connections, we like fast cars, we need fast action movies to entertain us, and so on. Waiting is not a big draw here in the U.S.A. Let's face it, we're not really conditioned to wait. We grow impatient if there are two shopping carts in front of us in the grocery store. And God forbid it should take more than 3 seconds to load a webpage!

But here is David, telling us that the very first thing we need to do is wait patiently and expectantly. What does waiting do for us? It helps us to calm down, to focus, to center our thoughts, to open our minds. It allows us to deal with the distractions that persistently knock on the door of our minds. It is through waiting that God is most effectively able to communicate with us.

Now this is very important - notice that AFTER David has waited God makes an appearance. God makes the connection and listens to David. What a great way to start out worship - by making the connection between man and God!

I'm not going to create an argument by saying the only way to enter worship is to do so reflectively. However, I do think that we too often go to the opposite extreme and avoid reflection at the start of our worship. The key to the whole thing is that archaic and obsolete concept known as waiting. The next time you go to worship, try praying something like this:

"Slow me down, Lord.
Clear my thoughts.
Let the silence of the moment be filled with only the sound of your voice.
Remove the distractions, Lord.
Silence the enemy, Father.
Speak to me in your still, small voice.
I come expectantly.
I wait for You to speak.
Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Psalm 40:1