how to change your focal length: part 5

"Yet you are holy, O you who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel." - Psalm 22:3

I was at the opticians the other day. I've been having trouble with my eyes for a week or so and I wanted to get it checked out.

As is often the way with these things, the optometrest had to switch on the lights and leave the room with my notes. He excused himself very nicely and professionally, and for a few moments I was left to panic on my own in the consulting room.

What a time to put some of this into practice! I stared at a wall of differently-sized letters and softly began to sing, just quietly to God.

There is something about singing that changes the atmosphere - especially when it's from the heart and straight to God. Not every song we sing has to be a brilliant anthem we can't wait to teach the church, or record and put on a trendy album! Some of the best songs are just between us and God, born into life from the secret place, and sung in situe to the Audience of One.

I sang for a few minutes in the room, eyes open, you know, just in case the optometrist came back.

Singing praise is an ancient and wonderful way to change your focal length. The word for praise here is 'tehilla' - to sing, to exalt in voice, to raise a hymn.

In Psalm 22, it's tehilla praise that makes a dwelling place for God. He is enthroned on praise - as though it could somehow serve as a platform for the throne of heaven itself! Think about that - the throne room is built upon the act of sacrifical praise.

That means that when we gather together to lift our voices, what we're doing is establishing a landing strip, a temple, a dwelling place for God himself to come and 'inhabit' our praises.

What's more, we ourselves as believers are also his dwelling place. He dwells in us when we live in atmosphere of praise. The more I think about that, the more amazed I become!

And it's thinking things like that that makes me sing in the optometrist's consulting room.

Tehilla praise changes our focal length by changing the atmosphere. It brings heaven directly into a situation, rushing in like a wind, crashing in like a river. Praise changes everything. And (if you think back to how lenses work) once the atmosphere changes, the way that light refracts through it has to change too! The air around you has a refractive index.

So, this week's challenge: if you think of it, or if you're facing a situation that you need to see change, just find a space and start singing to God. Tehilla isn't necessary loud like halal, or visible like barak or yadah - it can be soft and it can be powerful.

Tip: if you're stuck for ways to get spontaneously singing, start by singing over an interval of a fifth (think of the first two notes of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) and go from there.

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PS: When I got back from the optometrist appointment, I opened an email from Joanna with a link to a Bill Johnson message. You can see it here - he says it so much better than me, and in a lot more depth. Well, he's Bill Johnson, isn't he?

Oh, and if God is going to help change a focal length, I can't honestly think of anywhere better for him to remind me how to do that than in the consulting room at the opticians.