It’s a hard time to lead sung worship in church right now. Congregational singing – the heart of our ministry – has been stripped away, and we’re left with what feels like an empty shell. The tangible, audible signs that God’s word is in fact dwelling in people richly have vanished. Like many around me, I’ve been fighting to not lose heart.
However, in ways we can’t always see, the Lord is still at work, bearing eternal fruit. And He wants to encourage us in this difficult season through the words of the apostle Paul: do not lose heart.
In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul is contrasting ministry under the old covenant law with ‘the ministry of the Spirit’ in the new covenant. Moses’ ministry was glorious. When he met with God, his face shone so radiantly that the Israelites couldn’t even look at him. But the glory faded away, so he put a veil over his face ‘to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away’ (3:13). Paul uses this image of a veil to describe how, through the law, the Israelites were blind to God’s glory.
