Worship Meditations

Worship has been exhaustively defined and redefined in innumerable books (now more than ever, it seems), so it's hard to keep up with what has already been said.

I'll start with my favorite worship leader and songwriter, Matt Redman. He said in a song several years ago, "I'm coming back to the heart of worship, and it's all about You, all about You, Jesus." That gets me half-way there. The other half would say, "It's also about me and how I respond to Your love for me." That's a decision I must make alone, in my own heart.

When I worship I am assigning worthiness to God ("worth-ship"). I am telling God and showing God how much I love and adore Him. I tell Him in words, both spoken and sung. I show Him by abandoning myself and my selfish desires and surrendering my body, mind and spirit to Him and His will for me, (See Romans 12:1-2). I worship alone by seeking and following His will in private prayer, meditation and service; I also worship as part of a collective dynamic in a church or other group setting.

So is there a diffrerence between worshiping God and, say, serving Him, or preaching or teaching about Him, or ministering to His people, etc.? I think if there is a proper perspective in the heart of the believer, i.e., if the believer recognizes the glory and position of God relative to his own position, has a submissive and thankful heart and enjoys the presence of God in all things, virtually any act he does can become an act of worship. Does this happen in this life? Very seldom, at least for me. So it is necessary for me to set aside special times of concentrated worship, if for nothing else than to (at least partially) eliminate outside distractions that can hinder my enjoyment of God's presence.

In Psalm 29 David says,
"Ascribe to the LORD, O sons of the mighty,
Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

"Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name;
Worship the LORD in holy array."

I think worship involves attempting to give glory to God (we may or may not succeed, depending on the hearts of those who witness our attempt) while embracing the fact that we are nothing without Him.

If I envision a loyal knight presenting himself to the King, he does several things:
— He bows low as if to say, "I can't even look upon your face unless you permit me to."
— He exposes his vulnerable neck area as if to say, "I would permit you to behead me if it pleased you."
— He presents his sword as if to say, "My weapon is your weapon. Keep it, give it back or use it to slay me." In other words, he makes himself totally vulnerable to the king.
— He listens to the voice of his king and obeys at all cost.
— He accepts only those accolades the king permits him to have. The ultimate glory goes back to the king.

My worship is a voluntary thing, based on my decision whether or not to give "worth-ship" to Him. I'm not sure about the whole "my decision vs. His sovereignty" issue; it just seems to me that at some point I have something to say about it. I'll just leave it at that.

<<Back • Next >> Home>>