The heavens opened during worship last Wednesday. At least they did for me.

I lead worship for our mid-week services these days, and I really like worship on Wednesday evenings. It’s not as exciting initially, because we don’t have the big band we have on Sunday mornings. We don’t even have a drummer half of the time.

But I like it because once we get into the first song, and we’re past the moment of, “Oh ya, this is a little more mellow,” the worship kicks in.

The congregation on Wednesday night is smaller. A lot smaller. But the people who come out on Wednesday nights – especially during hurricane-ish winds – are hungry. They’re the ones that go beyond the obligatory weekend service and come back to gather with other believers and meet God. And Jesus promised that the hungry would be filled.

(Can you meet God at home on Wednesday evening? Sure. But something about making the time and the drive is an act of faith that I think the Holy Spirit digs.)

We sang “How He Loves,” and I’m sure you’re familiar. The chorus is pretty simple.

He loves us
Oh how He loves us
Oh how He loves us
Oh how He loves

I sing that a lot. We do it Wednesdays and we do it frequently on Fridays. It’s a wonderful song.

But sometimes a song becomes too familiar, and your lips move themselves.

Wednesday evening, in the midst of it, I started to feel like I was on autopilot, so I prayed. I kept singing, but I stretched my heart toward God and sang, “How He loves,” asking that God would show me.

And guess what He showed me.

Not me.

Him.

I suddenly realized that the saints around His throne could sing those same words and never default to the motions, not because they have some revelation of His love, but because they have a revelation of Him.

“He loves us” is only as powerful as who “He” is. It’s only as life-changing as we realize He is, and it’s only as amazing as we realize He is. If we would pry our eyes open to the beauty and the majesty and the power and the glory of God, the fact that He loves us would be so much more than a good chorus.

It would knock us out.

It’s the difference between, “He loves us,” and “He loves us.”

It’s not amazing and wonderful, it doesn’t command your life, because of love. It’s because of Whom it is that loves us.