I was challenged the other day when a congregation member came up to me after service and said “Wow worship was great today!” I pondered that statement for a moment and then realized he was talking about the music selection and how it sounded. This got me thinking about a worship service and what makes if great or better yet what brings glory to God. I know that above everything else God is interested in the heart of man. Do we trust Him or not.
The question of whether we trust or do not trust has never more present than when God calls to Abraham and commands him to sacrifice his only son. You see, Abraham had been promised all kinds of things, like that his descendants would become a great nation. I wonder if at any time on the journey to sacrifice Isaac, if Abraham had any second thoughts. I can not imagine him not having thoughts of doubt raging through his head. If it were me, I do not know if I could go through with it; but Abraham pressed through the fear, the doubt and built an alter and bound up Isaac and placed him on the alter and was ready to sacrifice him, when the Lord stepped in and provided another sacrifice. Now this may seem extreme but I believe that God was wanting for Abraham to eliminate his doubt, so that he could fully trust God. You see, sometimes God allows us to go through things so that we can learn something about ourselves that God already knew. The only response to this is that we worship God! Maybe, Worship is more about abandoning all trust in our abilities and falling unflinchingly backwards, off the top of the twenty five foot ladder, into the abilities of the sovereign God. What if, Worship has more to do with the posture of our hearts and less to do with the music set or the vocal and musical abilities of the band?
Now this is not meant to give license to the lazy person who “does not have time.” We should always strive to give our best to God. Meaning that we should develop our vocal abilities, strengthen our musical skills so that we can give God our best. Yet, as a wise man once said “When you have done all you can do, you have done all you can do. So don’t worry about what you can’t do because you’ve done all you can do!” When we have practiced, prayed, fed our selves daily on the Word of life and worshiped the living God keeping in mind that our hearts are surrendered to Him, that allows a great worship service. God wants our hearts to trust in Him and allow Him to provide!
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