Worship

And the Lord said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden." Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?" You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, "He did not make me"; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?

Isaiah 29:13-16

     It has been on my mind more often lately to wonder exactly whom or what it is that we tend to worship in our churches today? I hear so many voices saying, "I could never worship there--the music is terrible!" or "That church is so behind the times--just hymnals and preaching. How dull... we should find someplace more up-to-date," or even, "There just isn't enough to keep little Johnny interested in the children's program. He needs some more activities/choir/plays/etc.," and so on and so on, continuing with a seemingly infinite number of variations. Perhaps they are all summed up in this one idea, however: "I know I should be in church, but it just doesn't appeal to me."

     The fact is, though the folks muttering indistinctly about music, arts, or innumerable other imperfections within the church do not see it this way, in reality they, too, do not find that church appeals to them. Or to be more precise, that worshiping God appeals to them. I know this because I have done it. 

     Early in my walk with the Lord, I selected a church based on where my husband would go, because I figured that if my husband went, then God must be calling us there. A brief time later, I was seen abandoning reason and becoming quite the critic of churches. Suddenly, I was looking at how many kids were the same age as mine, if I "fit in" to the environment, whether or not the style of worship was one I found stimulating. This all came crashing down around me, however, at a reminder from God:

     It was Him I was going to worship and not myself.

    With no subtlety and no room for doubt, He reminded me that I was His--bought with a price and no longer my own. I was not to indulge in self-worship by gratifying my senses and my appetites with just the right volume, number of activities, type of activities, and such. Nor was I to be a connoisseur of churches, sampling the worship styles and the various programmes available to feed myself and my brood. No, I was called to worship Him; to deny myself, take up my cross daily, and to follow Him. I was enlisted as a soldier in active duty (2 Timothy 2:4), and as such I would go where He gave orders to go and nowhere else. Worship? My life was to be lived out in worship, having nothing to do with rhythm and pitch but rather having everything to do with the attitude I cultivated in my heart and the hearts of my children. Romans 12:1 says that I should present my body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him, which is my spiritual worship. Worship is in everything I do, and when it is not, it is my heart attitude that needs to change and not the climate I find myself in.

     Taking this back to the church, to worship God in church I have found it most rewarding--and most necessary--to think of myself once again as one enlisted. Rather than worry about myself being fed, I worry about feeding others and let God tend to me as His sheep. He will provide what I need; indeed He has said, "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it," (Psalm 81:10). Once I had surrendered to this truth, attending church as an extension of my worship of God and doing whatever it is that He required of me there, He did indeed feed me beyond what I could have ever hoped and imagined. Now that I have seen behind the sham of "The Great Show," I can never go back. I do not know who it is others worship at church, but I reject the temptation to worship myself. I do not go there to please or refresh myself, but to serve and worship my King in adoration, fully trusting Him to fill my spiritual needs. And friends, the choice to die to myself in this area, too, has given me a fulfillment greater than any I could have believed possible by catering to my fickle, human whims.

Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! O Israel, if you would but listen to me! There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god. I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. "But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes. Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him, and their fate would last forever. But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

Psalms 81:8-16

Scripture quotations are from the ESV^® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.