Worship Opportunities

A crumbled brick wall. This image came to me in the middle of the night when the things that burdened me felt as broken as that brick wall I visualized. Recognizing I wouldn’t find sleep without giving some attention to the aches that plagued me, I rolled out of bed. Quietly, I slipped out of the room, as tears filled my eyes considering some of the wounds that felt so raw. 

Maybe because I had read this Psalm two weeks earlier, or maybe because of some other reason, the Lord popped Psalm 73:28 into my mind: 

But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.

Swirling with thoughts over multiple losses, adjustments, and life circumstances, I meditated on the first part of that verse: “…the nearness of God is my good.” Wow. The nearness of GOD is my good. How can I be near Him if there’s anything in the way? If I picture my body standing near that wall and Jesus standing on the other side, receiving His full embrace isn’t possible even if there’s a knee-high wall present. Every brick needs to come down for me to truly receive the full nearness of God. His very best.

We people can tend to be in the brick-making, barrier-building business, though. Unfortunately, I’ll be the first to raise my hand and say, “I am a very good barrier-builder!” That night God was exposing those barriers I had unknowingly built and how He was breaking them down. I’m so grateful.

The bricks of comfortable living, reputation, relationships, health, financial stability, expectations, success, and countless other temporary things have the potential threat of becoming bricks in the wall that blockade us from God’s nearness. We must be careful to not assemble these into our refuge…our fortress of safety. Only the Lord God is our perfect refuge! 

Thankfully God’s in the business of barrier-breaking because He knows what…WHO… will truly be our good and our real refuge: HIM!  

Sometimes the bricks seem to come down one at a time, and sometimes it feels like they are blasted out of the way by dynamite. Sometimes we don’t even realize we’ve been building barriers until the dynamite is blasted. We have two choices to make in those times: we can quickly start rebuilding the wall or we can let those bricks lay crumbled on the ground and receive the embrace of God’s nearness. His nearness is so much better than that brick wall we built!

The last part of the verse gives the “why” behind it all: “That I may tell of all your works.” So, not only does God give us His nearness when all barriers are broken, but we have the opportunity to worshipfully tell others of the good works His does in that brokenness.

What barriers might God be breaking down in your life that you may experience His good refuge? How do you fill in this blank? “The nearness of ___________ is my good.” If there’s anything you fill in the blank with other than God, He will be faithful to break down that barrier! Painful as it may be in the process, it will be worth it when His nearness is our good. 

So in those seasons of barrier-breaking, we have the opportunity to give thanks in worship to our tender, loving Barrier-Breaker. We can say over and over, “HIS NEARNESS is my good!” Worship God in the brokenness.