15 Oct What’s the Point?
“I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no-one can fathom.”
Psalm 145:1-3 NIVUK
“The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him”
Lamentations 3:25 NIVUK
Do you ever feel like you can be trying your best to sing and worship God, and at the end of it, you feel exactly the same as before? Do you struggle to understand why we worship God, or even what worship is in the first place?
God doesn’t need worship. He is Almighty and All-sufficient. Even though God created us to worship Him, He doesn’t require praise from people to increase His power. Whether you choose to sing or not on a Sunday won’t affect who He is. It does however affect who we are – in a big way. The fact that we are fundamentally worshippers at heart is evidenced by the fact that if we choose not to worship God, we end up, intentionally or unintentionally, worshipping other things. Worshipping means spending time with, honouring, glorifying. How often do we “worship” celebrities or TV shows? How often do we find ourselves worshipping our jobs or schoolwork by giving them a higher priority than God? We can also worship our friends if they become a common reason why we miss out on meeting with God.
We are worshippers. There’s no getting around it! And the first 2 commandments; “love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind and soul” and “have no other God but the Lord” are the fundamental principles we need to live by. That doesn’t mean you should neglect the other parts of your life, but you need to be aware of who and what you are choosing to honour in your day-to-day life. If God is not first on the list, then I challenge you to re-examine your priorities. Because God offers us unconditional love and grace, so should our offering of worship be to Him.
So the point of worship is foremostly an act, or should I say, a continuous act of obedience and recognition of who we are as children of God. That should be reason enough!
However, God gives us so much more, and uses the opportunity of our worship to meet with us and impact our lives. When we say God ‘inhabits our praises’ we mean that He is present whenever we glorify Him. For those of us who live our lives as one big never-ending sacrifice is worship, He truly never leaves us. These are all promises founded in scripture. So we benefit from worship a lot more than God does! A single act of praise can change your life – and how much more will daily or continuous worship! Through praise, we are uplifted and empowered. We can offload our burdens, and celebrate with our ultimate friend. We find everlasting unparalleled companionship, as well as advisor and comforter. God can be all of these things and infinitely more to us, when we accept who we are as worshipper children of God, and act out of obedience and expectant faith. It’s not that difficult when you try, so give it a go!
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