I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. (Psalm 34:1)
King David made his mistakes, but he knew how to worship, didn’t he? What moved him to lavish praise on his God so often? I think it was because he knew the Lord better than most. He had become aware of the attributes of God from experiencing a lifetime of being rescued and helped and loved. David could not help but be overcome by God’s majesty and goodness to him.
When the throne room of God was revealed to the apostle John in the book of Revelation, he saw creatures, who, day and night never stopped saying:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is, and is to come.”
Then he looked and saw 10,000 times 10,000 angels (a lot!) encircle the throne and sing in a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and praise!”
When I read that, I think, “Well, of course they do that in heaven, they are right in front of God!” Then it dawns on me: the closer I get to God, the more I want to worship him. My degree of worship is a barometer of my walk with Christ.
But what about when we’re having a bad day and nothing is going our way and we don’t see God helping us very much? I think that’s when we need to practice Hebrews 13:15,
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise–the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.”
When we offer up a sacrifice of praise, we choose to trust God in the midst of our troubles. We are told to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) These three short verses not only challenge us to rejoice and pray continuously; they also show us how to do it, since we can always find something to be thankful for. I believe that kind of sacrifice is received as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people to be his very own and to proclaim the wonderful deeds of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)
Praising God is not just one of the things we should do as a Christian; it’s our mission and purpose in life. In fact, “whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31) Everything we do should be done with and for him and we should give him the credit for everything.
We adore what we cherish, admire, treasure, and long for. So, what’s keeping us from adoring God as fully as we should? C.S. Lewis identifies some things that hold us back. The first is inattention. We stay so busy with the demands of life that we miss the beautiful things our Creator has blessed us with, like a colorful sunset or the intricate designs of flowers or a cool breeze on a hot summer day.
Another obstacle to adoration is greed. We don’t take the time to smell, taste and relish the pleasures we have. We demand more and get less satisfied. It’s hard to thank God for gifts we don’t appreciate.
The best way I know to counteract envy is to cultivate an attitude of gratitude. You’ve heard this expression before, but it really works. When I begin to thank God throughout my day for all the good things in my life, like food, home, clothes, family, friends, etc., it gives me a lift and I’m not so preoccupied with that one thing that I think is keeping me from being happy. As we begin to notice the blessings of God and the beauty of his creation, his showcase, we will begin to magnify him:
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands…You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God…Who is like You, O mighty Lord?” (Psalm 19:1, 86:10, 89:8)
When we praise God, we are acknowledging his greatness. A survey of the Old Testament, especially the Psalms, reveals that the Hebrew people were quite emotional and vocal with their praise and adoration toward God. They sang, shouted and danced using musical instruments:
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs… Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise… Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, with the harp and lyre, with dancing, with the strings and pipe, with the clash of cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. (Psalm 100:1, 4, 150:3-6)
Becoming a Worshiper
While praise is pretty straight forward, worship has many applications in our public and private lives. When we serve God and share his love with others, we are performing acts of worship.
Corporate Worship
If I don’t start my worship as soon as I get out of bed on Sunday and pray for the upcoming service, I will probably be distracted when I get there. I’ll be critical of the musicians or the song selections and become detached from my mission, which is to focus on the glorious meeting with my Savior and enjoy the privilege of making music (or at least a joyful noise) to the Lord with my Christian brothers and sisters. I need to “worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.” (Hebrews 12:28)
When I arrive at the church, is the praise and worship segment something I can stroll into after it’s started as long as I get into my seat before the sermon begins or is it something more than a preliminary, something that I should be on time for to prepare my heart to hear from God? Am I just mouthing the words like a robot when I sing, “All that is within me bless his holy name” or am I giving it all I have? Am I expressing my love and thanks to the Lord my God with all my heart and soul and mind and strength or am I just going through the motions? Do I expect the worship leaders to bless me or do I have some responsibility to shoulder, like blessing the Lord?
Personal Worship
When the Samaritan woman was trying to engage Jesus on how and where to worship, he replied, “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”
I like the explanation of this passage from gotquestions.org: “True worship must be “in spirit,” that is, engaging the whole heart. Unless there’s a real passion for God, there is no worship in spirit. At the same time, worship must be “in truth,” that is, properly informed. Unless we have knowledge of the God we worship, there is no worship in truth. Both are necessary for satisfying and God-honoring worship.”
I believe our quest to get closer to God will help us become the kind of worshipers our Father seeks, as we get to know him and love him more.
Bob Sorge, in his book, Exploring Worship, says: “The heart of true worship is the unashamed pouring out of our inner self upon the Lord Jesus Christ in affectionate devotion.” We can read all day long about how to worship, but until we let go and praise the Lord with all our heart and soul we won’t know what we’ve been missing. Some people can worship well in a service without any outward signs of emotion but some of us let our pride rob us of the joy and release that comes with raising our hands or bowing down or kneeling. I once read some good advice on this: “Never do anything because others are looking at you, and never refrain from anything because others are looking at you.” Of course, you don’t want to be a distraction, which may or may not be an issue depending on the worship style your church practices. The most intense worship experiences I have, though, is when I let loose outside when no one is around. That’s when I can cry out and let the tears flow!
Dig Deeper
C. S. Lewis, in Reflections on the Psalms, said that he realized that praise isn’t for God’s benefit, but for ours. “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment.”
James Nicodem, in Prayer Coach, says, “When you see a spectacular sunset, don’t just feel awed. Share the experience with the One who painted that sky.”
Start saying, “Yay, God!” when good things happen.
Tell God what you’re feeling. Pray with passion and fervor. Tell God that you love him often. He’s not impressed with lukewarm.
May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who
love your salvation say evermore, “God is great!” (Psalm 70:4)
Dwell in His secret place 