Worship

I reluctantly started reading the book of Isaiah this week and was pleasantly surprised. For some reason I had this incorrect idea that the Old Testament is not as applicable/gospel centered as the New Testament is. It only took one chapter in Isaiah to show me that I was wrong. Right in the first chapter, Isaiah 1:18, there was a focus on God’s judgment and redemption of humanity.

Not only was there a picture of Jesus’ redeeming work, there was also a rebuke of hypocrisy (Isaiah 1:11) that I found directly applicable to my life. The Israelites had evidently been offering their required sacrifices to God, but had no change of heart when they did. They thought that God was after their sacrifice while he was really after their hearts.

Just like the Israelites, I often will do acts of worship (service, prayer, tithing etc.) because I think God wants me to do them. It often feels like I am just going through the motions. John Piper, in Desiring God, discusses how worship comes from the “affections of the heart.” He even goes further to say that “where feelings for God are dead, worship is dead.” In other words, worship that is just external works is not worship at all. On the contrary, authentic worship comes from “seeing Christ as not only our Savior but our treasure.” It is an overflow of the pleasure and fulfillment we find in our Savior.

If you are like me, you don’t always feel that delight in God. In those times when your worship feels so dry, I challenge you to not, as I so often do, try and “white-knuckle worship” but to instead turn to God and be real. Just like David did in the Psalms, be honest with God, maybe it won’t be the most theologically correct prayer, but it will be authentic… Any thoughts?