| You're
approached by a sincere individual who hands you a tape or a CD, or even volunteers to
sing a cappella. It's a song that has been miraculously given to them by God in a dream,
or while driving, or during a sermon, or whatever. Not only are they offering it to you
for use in worship, but they generously proclaim that since it is from God, they are
donating all of their forthcoming proceeds right back to the church! Now comes the awkward
part: you hear it, and it doesn't quite match up to all the hype. In fact, your inner
brain is silently proclaiming, "No wonder God gave that song to you, He didn't want
it!" For many a worship leader, this is
one of the more awkward, if not confusing, parts of the job. (Please don't take offense at
the reference to "job". If it makes you feel better, simply insert
"calling" in its place.) How does one reconcile a truly sincere person's claim
of a God-given song with an honest and unbiased evaluation whose conclusion includes
phrases such as: "It's hard to sing along with," "The lyrics are a little
trite," "It doesn't flow," "It kind of wanders," and the classic
"It needs a bridge." If we're gut level honest, that all translates into a
politically correct version of "It's awful." In other words, they think their
God-given song is great; you think it stinks.
When I first began in the ministry, I tried to honor the
sincerity and make it work. I would take the song and move and change words around,
reconstruct melodies, redo or make up accompaniments, and anything else I could think of
to make it usable. It was a laborious effort, and the results were still always wanting. I
quickly discovered the following: 1.) It no longer was their song; it was, in effect, now
mine, but I still didn't like it enough to want to take any credit for it. 2.) I could've
written a better song in half the time. 3.) They took my lack of confrontation and honesty
as a sign of encouragement, so they brought me more songs.
I then followed up that approach with the aforementioned
politically correct tact, explaining ways for them to possibly fix some of the "minor
distractions." I quickly discovered the following: 1.) The songs kept coming back,
with changes, still very bad. 2.) I could have written a song in the amount of time it
took me to explain the politically correct changes that were needed. 3.) They still
brought me more songs.
Next, I tried adding some obstacles to the process. I
required that the song or songs be in some recorded form that I could listen to in
private, quality of recording not being an issue. I would then commit to listening to this
tape or CD within two weeks, after which time they were required to call me; I would not
call them. Although this did reduce the number of God-given song submissions, I still
discovered the following: 1.) Now they have my number, and they're calling me. 2.) Now I
have guilt heaped upon my head since some have chosen to pay for studio time to produce a
more presentable demo of their song or songs. Still very bad, less hiss. 3.) Yes, they
still brought me more songs.
By now I realize it's time to search God's Word since all
of my ingenious methods are quickly crashing and burning. I narrowed down all my
frustrations and struggles to two glaring questions: If these songs are, in fact, from
God, am I supposed to "judge" them, and, if so, how am I supposed to
"judge" them? I was preparing for a conference a while ago in which I was a
speaker and a question and answer panelist, and knowing this was going to be an issue, I
began a study first on the subject of judging. This is probably one of the most
misunderstood areas of Scripture. We read in Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge, or you too
will be judged." The quick assumption is simple: we are not to judge, period.
However, a closer look at this Scripture in context with vs. 1-5 reveals we are not to
judge unfairly (for the log in our own eyes) or hypocritically. These verses go on to
admonish one to "first take the plank out of your own eye," and then we can
attend to the speck in our brother's eye. We see in Matthew 7:15-20 instructions on how to
discern if one is a false prophet. In 1 Corinthians 5:12 Paul asks the rhetorical question
concerning the church, "Are we not to judge those inside?" and then in Chapter 6
admonishes the church to judge disputes among believers. These are just a few examples of
our call and responsibility to judge and discern; in fact, we read in Proverbs 10:13:
"Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of him who
lacks judgment." I also find myself as many of you reading this do, in the position
of worship leader and overseer in the ministry. We read in Acts 20:28 "Keep watch
over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be
shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood." I now understood
that I had the responsibility and position to judge and to discern, but that still did not
narrow the gap between the two sides of the God-given song dilemma.
My next area of study was the gifts. I browsed around 1
Corinthians and came upon Chapter 14, which deals with the gifts of prophecy and tongues,
and there it was! Prophecy and tongues are both gifts from God; however, they have
different functions. Concerning tongues we read in verse 2: "For anyone who speaks in
a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters
mysteries with his spirit." However, concerning prophecy, we read in the very next
verse: "But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening,
encouragement and comfort." Verse 4 sums it up: "He who speaks in a tongue
edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church." I think you can see where
I'm going with this. When someone approaches me with a song that God has given them, it is
not my place to say whether or not that song is from God, but it is my place to discern
whether or not that song, like prophecy, can be understood and used to edify the church or
like tongues, which is not understood but instead used for personal edification and to
speak to God. For me, the confusion was now gone. Honestly, the great majority of
God-given songs I encounter are not well written and are unsuitable for congregational
singing. I simply respond by saying "This song is for you, not for me or anyone else.
This song will not be understood or appreciated by anyone but God, because He gave it to
you to share with Him. It is for your private worship time with Him, so cherish your gift
and worship God with it often, but don't try to make it into something it was never
intended to be." I have since shared this with hundreds over the years, that their
God-given song was either a prophecy song or a tongues song; however, now no one feels a
sense of rejection if their song is not played or recorded, but instead a sense of great
joy and peace knowing that they did, in fact, receive a gift from God!
For your consideration,
Clay Hecocks |