Vain Repetition

One day, I showed a friend one of my favourite worship songs, Michael W. Smith's Let it Rain. My friend's reaction surprised me. The words used were: "mindless repitition"... "God must be bored." That wit is kinda funny in retrospect, but at the time, I was a bit upset. I definitely didn't react the way I should have, but... The good thing about this is that it propelled me to look deeper into God's word for the answer.

In case you don't know the song, it has only three lines:

Let it rain
Let it rain
Open the floodgates of heaven

On a 2001 album (I think it's called "Worship), Smith has a 5:42 minute track with just these words over and over (along with a short section of praise-talk). I have loved the song for a long while.

The idea is that the repitition is mindless, and goes against what Jesus said in Matthew 6.

But... I don't think so. Jesus made a point of not being like the hypocrites, who repeat in prayer so as to make them long and be seen by others (Matthew 6:5). So, motive is what Jesus was speaking about. It is possible to say "I love You" to God ten times and mean it each time. But if we're doing it just to be seen as righteous by others (and God), then we're doing it for the wrong reason.

Another song by Smith, Agnus Dei (also repetitive), was inspired, I believe, by Revelation 4 and 5. John, in vision, saw the four 'living creatures' around the Lord's throne. He wrote: "Day and night they never stop saying: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.' " (Revelation 4:8, NIV)

Maybe you or I would be bored (and maybe the creatures are, too lol) but I don't think God is. Even if this is purely symbolic, it's clear that God is not against repitition inself (or He would not have given John this vision of angelic praise), and so that is not what Jesus was speaking against.

Reading through the Bible, I'm struck by the diversity of praise. "Clap your hands, all you nations" (Psalm 47:1), "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10), "Shout for joy to the Lord" (Psalm 98:4), "Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker (Psalm 95:4)...

Is it right or wrong to do these things? One person may be fine to "be still" in awe of the mere greatness of our God. But someone else has a deep desire to shout to the Lord. I don't think it should be anyone's prerogative to try to smother someone else's praise just because it's not what we're used to, or want.

And believe me, that's a lesson I'm having to learn myself.

So, I don't believe there's anything wrong with repitition. God sees the heart. And He knows the hypocrites... and the sincere.

~Ken