All Nations, Tribes and Tongues

This evening John and I were blessed to watch a small but powerful concert of the wonderful Israeli singer and worship leader, Joshua Aaron. Apparently he and two other musicians were in The Netherlands giving this concert and he explained that the rest of his band are all in the I.D.F. on active duty in the war in Israel. 

Something about this concert started causing many long-ago memories to swirl around in my mind and I knew it was because Joshua was singing familiar worship songs in English, in Hebrew, and then in Dutch. I truly love hearing the sounds of music and praise being lifted up to the Father in various languages of the tribes and people of the earth. It took me back to a moment in Jerusalem many years ago when I was living there in the Jerusalem House of Prayer for All Nations.  We were hosting the annual conference and people from about 180 nations had gathered there to hear teaching from the Bible and to worship the Lord together.  At one point the worship leader on the stage began singing the song "Shout to the Lord" and as the people joined in, I heard a sound that seemed to catapult me straight into the Throne Room! I heard ONE SONG being sung to The God of all the Earth in probably about 50 different languages!  We were singing together - as one - but the words were all different. And it touched me deeply to think, "This is what the Lord hears continually in Heaven! He understands every word, He delights in every dialect, and He hears His people as one united body across the entire planet!" I cannot tell you how thrilling this revelation was to me!

Suddenly the memories of many mission trips came flooding back like a televised travelogue. First I remember myself riding on the back of a small motorcycle amidst the jam-packed traffic on the streets of Nepal. I was holding on to the small waist of the pastor who had fetched me from my hotel to bring me to the church where he would teach me how to sing some of their songs in the Nepalese language. Then the scene changed and I see myself in a very large building in Ivanovo, Russia. It was in the dead of winter and the owners of the building refused to  allow coal to be delivered for heat since it was a Christian church! But the Russians came anyway - at least 300 of them - dressed in big fur hats, heavy boots, and warm wool coats. The women wrapped their babies in several layers of blankets and the children hopped and danced to keep warm. I led them in worship, singing "As the Deer" and "Sing Hallelujah to the Lord" and several other songs in the Russian tongue. They stayed the entire day in the cold, lifting their voices and their hearts, grateful for electricity that powered my keyboard, and delighted that I sang in their language.

Then suddenly my memory takes me to  a huge structure in Nigeria that served as a church. There was a concrete floor and a tarp-like "roof" that kept off rain.  Again, this was an ALL DAY WORSHP FEST, even though the temperature was over 100 degrees F. and the humidity at least that high! I never saw such an eye-popping pallet of color in all my life as these beautiful Nigeran women in their stunning dresses and hats filed into the church.  I led them in singing their traditional Nigerian worship songs - just as I had led the Kenyans in their lilting Swahili praise of "Mambo Sawa Sawa"!  These were such grand times, being able to knit my heart to all these people from many nations, tribes and tongues as we worshipped together as one. 

The most intimate time of worship I recall was in Jerusalem, with a group of intercessors. We sang all our praise in Hebrew and though we were from many different nations, singing in the ancient Hebrew language gave us a sense of worship in David's Tabernacle, God's FAVORITE house of worship!

I see the world so divided, so filled with hatred and intolerance.  On my TV screen I hear the vitriol spewed forth by young college students, even as I continue to witness the intense hatred of the Jewish people spreading like a cancer around the world. So on this rain-swept, peaceful evening, with John at my side softly singing, and all these wondrous memories flooding my soul, I feel so grateful that I have had so many opportunities to connect with so many of God's precious people around the world! 

John picks up the small shofar on the table beside his chair and starts to sound little blasts along with the exciting Middle-Eastern music in the concert.  And then another treasured memory returns.  I think of my dear friend Mariana, who was with us in the House of Prayer.  She was from Kyrgyzstan and she and her team led the whole conference in worship with one tiny little instrument called the Oz-komuz, a mouth harp played by blowing air through a tube! 

All these sounds are precious to God not because any of us are so talented, and not because any one language or instrument is superior to others, but because our hearts are turned toward Him and our worship is ONLY FOR HIM.  From the hurdy-gurdy played during this Joshua Aaron concert to the Oz-komuz played by my beloved little friend, it all reaches the ear of God and I believe it gives Him great delight! He does say in His Word that one day we believers will all be gathered together from every nation, tribe and tongue; can you IMAGINE the glorious sound that will ascend on that day as our voices are joined with thousands upon ten thousands of angels? 

Just know that YOU will be singing too. He doesn't audition voices; He auditions hearts!