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Every time I read this Psalm I am reminded of the genius of David's writings, and of course the power of divine inspiration. There couldn't be a more fitting topic to follow verse three, where we encountered those who turn to God as a result of authentic worship, as the topic David introduces: affirming the object of our worship.

The constant fear that I face as a worship pastor is that we are worshiping something other than than the almighty God. David is quick to specifically identify that which the congregation of verse three should be worshiping - the Lord God almighty. Why does he do this? Perhaps it is because he knew how easily and quickly we are prone to "turn aside". Perhaps he knew how fast our worship disintegrates when our worship is misdirected.

This is an absolutely true story. I was in St. Mary's Hospital last week. While I was waiting in one area of the hospital, I heard the operator's voice come over the loudspeaker system. She was paging "Dr. Misguided". I burst into laughter, and in the miniscule space of seconds dozens of jokes came to mind. Can you imagine going to a Dr. Misguided for a diagnosis? Would you even consider visiting a doctor with such a name? (OK, I can tell you that it sounded EXACTLY like "misguided" over the loudspeaker, but I don't want to insult the doc if it was just the way the operator was saying it) Just a few minutes later I heard the same operator paging "Dr. Evangelista". Maybe Dr. Evangelista was trying to straighten out Dr. Misguided!

We would never trust a doctor who was misguided! Especially with our life at stake. As worship leaders we are worship "doctors". We lead people to worship. If we are misguided in our own worship, we will certainly take the congregation with us. And don't deceive yourself - it's far easier to get on the wrong track than you think. There are those who worship the process of worship. They're in love with the act rather than in love with the creator. There are those who worship their own role in worship. They are looking for the congregation to respond to them rather than the Holy Spirit. There are those are worship the appearance of worship. Why? For status, for admiration, and because of pride. Those are our "false gods". They move in and ever so cleverly invade, overrun, and destroy our true worship.

How do we battle against this? By checking our motives, our attitudes, and our actions against the measure of God's Word. I say "battle" because it is a battle. Satan would like nothing more than to corrupt your worship by replacing worship with worthless, meaningless activity that derails us from authentic worship. Let the worship leader beware: Dr. Misguided is roaming the stages and platforms of churches all across the world, and he is prone to give you very, very bad counsel. Don't trust Dr. Misguided!