Ready Hands

 We were at church yesterday and in the middle of one of the songs during worship, the power went out. It was obvious that everyone on the worship team were veterans to Kenya because not one of them flinched or skipped a beat even though they were suddenly singing into powerless microphones, the lyrics were no longer on the screen and the volume reduced to only their voices. Even still, they continued on like nothing happened and everyone continued to sing the song joyfully. 

While I was singing, I noticed the electric keyboard player. He was continuing to play the song like he had before the power went out. The only problem was, the electric keyboard no longer had electricity, so he was continuing to play but the music couldn’t be heard. I watched him continue to play the music-less keyboard until, towards the end of the song, the power suddenly came back on. When it did, he quickly pressed a couple buttons to adjust the sound and then continued on with the song he had been playing along to the whole time. He wasn’t out of touch of where the music was in the song or needing to catch up, he was right on cue because he had followed along even when it technically didn’t matter because his music couldn’t be heard. 

Second Timothy 4:2 says to “be ready in season and out of season”. The keyboard player reminded me of the importance of having “ready hands” no matter what season we are in. In this walk with Jesus, it is crucial to not assume that the work the Lord called us to once means we will always, daily, do that work. The spirit is alive and active and what He wants us to is not a one and for all thing. So we ready our hands and we ask regularly, “what do you have for me today, Lord”. Knowing that it might not look exactly like yesterday (or like that plan we have in our head for the day). 

When we live this way, it might feel like there are days that the music can’t be heard even though we’re playing our hearts out. However, it could simply be readying us for the time when the music WILL be heard loud and clear. So we faithfully put our hands to what we feel led to today knowing that even if we don’t see results, the conditioning and faithful acts of obedience are not done in vain and will produce something good, even if we can’t see it right away.