Sometimes worship leaders talk about the stages of a worship service as moving from Celebration to Adoration to Revelation. Our music is often structured around this idea. We use upbeat celebratory songs at the beginning, more worshipful songs toward the middle and we end with songs that are thematically focused on who the character and nature of God Himself. For example, last week we did in order, Take It All, You Deserve, Our God Saves, Maker of Heaven, The Stand and Your Name. You can see how the first three songs might be rightly thought of as "celebration", the next 2 as "adoration" and the last one (Your Name) as revelation. It doesn't always fit so neatly together, but this basic progression is often seen in our worship services.
In fact, a marker of powerful, annointed worship is that point where we cross from awareness of how God has cared for us to awareness (revelation) of who He is. That is the point where nothing else seems to matter except for Him. I think that true "revelation moments" should be one of the main goals of our worship. I also believe they are rarer than we think. We sometimes mistake an outpouring of emotion or celebration for revelation. I believe that at least one reason "revelation moments" are rare is that in our hearts we fear the consequences when God Himself descends to be with his people. God's presence is not comfortable. He's not like a pet or an old pair of shoes. He is a holy fire burning us, refining us, drawing us to repentance and changing us. When Isaiah had his vision of God in Isaiah 6 he was immediately aware of his own lack of holiness. He cried out "Woe to me!" His attitude was a visceral reaction to the holiness of God. When God revealed Himself with a display of thunder and lightning on the mountain, the children of Israel told Moses point blank, "You go talk with God … we'll stay here".
So the revelation of "who God is" is not a blithe ceremonial exercise. It is scary business. I think that sometimes when we worship we sense that "next level" where God will breakthrough, and we shy away. We settle for an exciting worship service that feeds us and uplifts us but does not transform us. Going further into his court means coming face to face with who He is - and by contrast recognizing who we are as well. Thinking of it reminded me of my youth. Young people are risk takers and I was no exception. If my mother only knew...