Worship leaders often believe that, that is the way to go. To give their very best and to worship from the heart requires, so they think, a corresponding increase in the decibels.
The result of this myth is not better worship but has led to many half deaf musicians and yes, half deaf congregations too.
There are certainly times to be loud as we celebrate the bigness and greatness of God. But to do that every week in every service and every moment of the service makes it 'boring' and even irritating at times. There is no variety in it. Good musicians understand tension in a song. They know the correlation of the loud and soft side to music.
More than that, it is the failure to understand that we can experience God in quiet moments.
God wants to speak in quiet moments.
His voice can be heard if we do not drown it out by the overwhelming loud music and our self interest of feeding our own emotions. Don't fall in love with your voice or the sound of the band. We do need good sound. I am all for it. But still the primary goal is more than the sound. It is God. Fall in love with God's voice and let Him speak. After all, it is His meeting.
Quiet moments can be very powerful and life changing.
Moses, alone in the back side of the desert, was changed when He heard God speak from the burning bush. A crushed Elijah trembled when he heard the still small voice of God. The preceding strong wind, earthquake and fire did not make a dent on him. Jonah repented in the belly of the fish. Joshua and Gideon rose up with courage and great confidence from their personal God encounters. Jeremiah shook off the discouragement when he was thrown into a dry and lonely well; cause there in the pit, God lit the fire of His word to burn in the prophet's bones. John received the revelations in exile on Patmos.
So the next time you lead or play for a worship service, don't just go loud and louder. Take a detour to the quiet side. You may just find God waiting for you and the congregation.
Maybe I am getting older and growing more mellow to prefer the quiet. Yet again, I think I am actually understanding more about the beauty of dynamics in worship and appreciating the movement of God when He speaks and we actually listen to His matchless voice.
Ps.46:10 Be still and know that I am God;
Hab.2:20 But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.
