Stuck in My Head

“Each of the four living creatures had six wings, and their bodies were covered with eyes. Day and night they never stopped singing, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, the all-powerful God, who was and is and is coming!’” Revelation 4:8

Are you a person of habit or routine? I know I am. You could set your watch by my regular trip to the Post Office when I pastored my first church. I would drive the half mile into town, go to the PO Box, smile and greet the others retrieving their mail and head back to the office. On the way I stopped at a convenience store to pick up my second cup of coffee for the morning. Tuesday through Friday that was my routine.

I also remember one song that went through my head for perhaps more than a year. For whatever reason, the old Andrae Crouch Song, “I Don’t Know Why Jesus Loved Me”, was stuck on replay in my head, so I sang it on the way to the post office and on the way back to the church; verses and chorus. Even now, writing those sentences, the song is running through my head.

That’s the upside of the old stuck-in-a-rut type of thinking that we sometimes experience. Familiar songs, especially ones with warm memories, can lift our spirits, even if it’s the umpteenth time we’ve sung them. Unfortunately, negative thoughts can gain traction in our brains just as well.

Perhaps they are negative phrases we heard (or think we heard) growing up: “God knows if you are lying or not,” “You’re lazy,” or “You deserve what’s coming to you.” Maybe we have thought them to ourselves. “They won’t like what you are going to say.” “Look how ugly you are.” “Look how fat you are.” “I bet that person hates me.”

Still worse is when those phrases are on a loop, never stopping to give our thoughts a moment’s rest. Trying to sleep, we hear them over and over like people talking just outside our window. Trying to peacefully enjoy a beautiful scene, they invade our consciousness and steal the minute of awe we hoped to enjoy. Eventually their constant rattling creates a fictional story with us as the main character, acting out every lie they crank out into our psyche.

But in heaven, all that changes. Whatever significance we attach to these six-winged, omni-eyed creatures, one thing is striking; they say the same beautiful truth over and over again, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, the all-powerful God, who was and is and is coming!” And this is not mindless repetition of a song that simply won’t shut off; it is the response to a wonder so great in heaven that we have no better way of responding than repeating the phrases of worship multiple times over. Though we sang it one thousand times to the thousandth power, it would never be enough to express the magnificence we experience in heaven.

We long for it here, even have bits of “heaven-tasting” parties occasionally, whether in a time swept up in worship, lost in prayer with others, or amazed at God’s acts in our life. But they are only appetizers made to whet our appetites for heaven.

Worship is not boring in heaven; nothing could be further from the truth. The opposite is actually the case. The might and power of God are overwhelming. His unending grace and mercy are received without the question marks we add to it in our human existence. Our fellowship with others is complete, transparent and honest, without fear of any kind keeping us from truly knowing and being known.

Imagine the most incredible sight you have ever encountered and multiply it by eternity. Taking the awe of seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time, or the Northern Lights inscribing the winter horizon, the thunder of a great river as it bends toward the sea as only the tiniest picture of what we may feel and experience in heaven; we can imagine a life full of worship and giving honor to God.

Perhaps the best preparation is training myself now to respond the way I will once full redemption has come. When my thoughts accuse me, when my mind repeats the time-worn put downs it knows so well, maybe I should consciously say, along with the heavenly creatures, “You are holy, holy, holy! You are All-Powerful God! You are here now! You have always been! And You are coming soon!”

Perhaps the tune will be different for each of us, the style one of our own liking, but the subject will be the greatness of He who is King over all! Why not, with true devotion and intention, begin to sing with the heavenly chorus here and now. At the very least, it’s probably better than what our minds, unguided by the Holy Spirit, normally feed us.