It's Good to Get Lost

My wife and another couple from church went to an incredible concert last night. We had great seats front and center to the Music Builds tour. Switchfoot (my second favorite band), Third Day, Robert Randolph, and Jars of Clay (my favorite band) all shared one stage. Wow. I highly recommend that everyone go to a high-energy concert with guitars and drums blaring and thousands of people fired up with one voice. It's a little taste of what Heaven will be.

I don't mean that last sentence as a statement of personal preference, like saying football is like Heaven on earth. I mean it as a true statement about what Heaven will be like. How is it like Heaven? First, the Bible tells us Heaven will be filled with thousands of thousands of loudly shouting saints praising the Lamb. The word "loud" appears 21 times in the book of Revelation. Hardly monastic reflection. Not quite the tranquility of a placid mountain lake. Second, God is glorified by the wide range of musical instruments being played with skill. It's amazing to me that some try to find sin in certain instruments, or any instrument when the Bible specifically commands praise from a variety of sources in the Psalms.

Most importantly, it's good to get lost in a moment where God's glory comes to the forefront of our minds and we forget about ourselves. The dynamic achieved at a concert imposes itself on the listener. You can't ignore it. It demands to be heard, to steal your attention and affection. While people have different tastes, and God is glorified by all kinds of music, there's just a dynamic achieved at a concert that is hard to replicate anywhere else.

This concert was no exception. Jars of Clay and Switchfoot are so artsy and eloquent, lyrically and musically. That's what I like about them. Third Day, while having just as much talent is right out in your face. They closed the night, and let me tell you when the stage lit up and you saw them there, you didn't think, "Wow, I'm a groupie of Third Day." They came out singing, "I believe in God the Father, Almighty Maker of Heaven, Maker of earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only Begotten Son, our Lord." You stood up, surrounded by thousands, all thinking one thing: "God is awesome and I'm not the only one who thinks so!"

Husbands forgot that their wives were there. Wives paid no attention to the men at their sides. Children didn't look around to see if they'd fit in. Everyone just danced and shouted to the God who made them; the God who saved them. At one particular point when Mac Powell told everyone to sit down and enjoy a rest, a young lady in front of us, probably about 16 or so, just kept on standing with her arms in the air. She seemed oblivious to all around her. Why? Because she was caught up in the song: "Don't you know I've always loved you, even before there was time. Though you turn away, I'll tell you still. Don't you know I've always loved you, and I always will." A teenage daughter of God, sitting between her parents on a Friday night, lost in the love of her Redeemer. Sometimes it's good to get lost.