528_The purpose of worship

Psalm 95 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.”
11 Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest.”

There is a story of a weary traveler who had been walking all day in the desert heat. Finally, he stumbled upon a well in the desert. A signboard showed a securely covered hole dug deep into the sand. Removing the cover, he found a tightly closed jug of water in the hole. Eager to drink, he was restrained by the words on the signboard. They warned: “ If you want to draw water from this well, first prime it with this jugful of water. Don’t drink it! Use it to prime the hand-pump. Then you will have more than enough water to drink. And when you’re done, fill it and put it back so that the next traveler may also find water for his need.”

In some ways, this story reflects the reason for worship. God encourages us to worship him, not because his emotional needs have to be met. Rather, our halting and limited worship primes the pump of faith, whereby his living water can be poured out freely and abundantly into our hearts. For heartfelt worship is the fruit of faith, the faith that believes that God is worthy of absolute trust and obedience.

Psalm 95 calls God’s people to worship. It is quoted extensively in Hebrews 3 and 4, where the writer attributes it to David. Behind the beauty of its poetry, it not only calls us to worship, but clearly warns against the dangers of a heart that refuses to worship.

The opening words are: “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise!” Worship is not a grudging duty but a glad response. We were created for this. Just as birds are made to fly and fish are made to swim, human beings fulfil the very reason for their existence when they live in the reverent gratitude and obedience that is born of faith. This gives human life its true rhythm.

The reason for our worship? “For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In His hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.” Worship is grounded in God being the Creator of all. Everything we see, from the smallest grain of sand to the tallest mountain peak, bears the mark of His craftsmanship. To worship is to acknowledge reality—that our lives only make sense when oriented to our Maker

Yet David goes further: “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.” Not just our Creator, God is our careful shepherd, a personal God who knows and leads his sheep by his own hand. Worship marvels at God’s greatness but also rests in his nearness.

The command, “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve,” is not the selfish demand of an insecure deity. It is the Father’s loving instruction. He knows that creatures who do not know or honor their Maker inevitably degrade into worshippers of false gods – and are thereby destroyed. These gods may be as simple as self-worship, or they may be physical idols, or the lusts and ambitions of this world. Or the false god may be Satan himself.

William Temple said: “To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, and to devote the will to the purpose of God.” That definition captures the truth that worship is the complete and willing realignment of our whole being to God’s presence, God’s truth, and God’s purposes.

Agnostics and atheists often wonder, “If God is perfect and all-sufficient, why does He command worship? Surely He does not need it?” Acts 17 speaks clearly to this question. There, Paul tells the Athenians that the God who made the world needs nothing from us, not even our worship, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. But we desperately need to worship Him.

From verse 8 onward, David warns: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.” Israel saw God’s mighty hand in their deliverance from Egypt’s slavery. God gave them manna for their hunger and water from the rock for their thirst. He kept them clothed and strong throughout their wilderness journey. Yet Israel repeatedly and ungratefully rebelled against his commands, hardened their hearts, and grumbled at his providence.

They had witnessed God’s works but had not learned His ways. God’s verdict? “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” Miracles may capture our attention, but are easily forgotten unless worship shapes our hearts. And this finally awoke God’s wrath against them. He swore in his wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.” The people who left Egypt did not enter the rest of God, promised to their fathers, because they refused to worship God.

Worship anchors us in God’s love and power. It reminds us to trust, to lean on God’s character rather than demand proof of His power. God’s rest is not an earthly inheritance of land and wealth. Rather, it is the settled confidence that God is who He says He is, and He will do what He has promised. Abraham and Sarah trusted God to give them descendants, despite their advanced age. Mary trusted God to fulfil his promise of a Messiah to Israel through her, though she was a virgin. Israel, sadly, failed to trust God’s word and instead doubted him in every trial.

Worship cannot be reduced to a ritual or Sunday service. It is to hear his voice and be filled with trust in him. It is to love him with all that we are and have, to be so full of love and admiration for him that there is no room for any other in our hearts or lives. It is to acknowledge him as Maker and Master, Redeemer and Protector – and to keep trusting him by walking humbly, doing justice, and showing mercy, in all situations.

So when we are tempted to complain, let us remember who is in charge of the world, and of our lives. When we are overwhelmed with fear, let us praise the God of our salvation. When we want God to prove his goodness to us, let us remember the cross where the Son of God died for us, and the throne on high where he is exalted today. For then, we will bow in thankfulness and follow him in humility. Worship is the air of the heavenly places where we live, in Christ. And worship is how we bring heaven down into our mundane lives.

To worship is to enter into the secret place of God through faith. And there we find rest, in submitting to his sweet yoke. When we worship the Father in spirit and in truth, we find not only our purpose but also our peace.