Today's devotion dealt with worshipping the Lord. When it comes to church, we should never see it as some obligation standing in the way of us and the rest of our Sunday. I have certainly felt like that on numerous occasions. We should be eager to spend time in worship of God, thanking Him for all He's done and will do and simply praising Him for who He is. Thankfully, I have felt this eagerness many times as well. How we feel about going to church is a good spiritual barometer. But I believe that God really values our worship when we have absolutely no desire to praise Him, but do it anyway. That's true sacrifice, and it's what God truly desires.
The Scripture for today was Psalms 96-98. When I first read through them, I felt like they all said the same thing: to worship the Lord. After a second read, though, I saw that they cited different reasons and had different tones for worshipping Him. Psalm 96 is commanding in its call to everyone to worship the Lord, referring to his "marvelous deeds among all peoples" as reasons to why He is worthy, among other things. I counted 13 imperative sentences in a 13-verse psalm, which is impressive. To me, it conveys a sense of duty to worship the Lord.
Psalm 97 does not call people to worship like its predecessor, but rather paints a picture of God's incomparable power. It portrays a God who is able to protect His people and completely annihilate anyone who dares oppose Him. It is not until the last verse that an explicit call to worship is made: "Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous, and praise His holy name."
Psalm 98 is more like Psalm 96 in that it calls people to worship throughout the psalm, but it has a much more joyous tone to it. It conveys the sense of pleasure that one receives from praising Him: "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth; burst into song with jubilant music; make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn--shout for joy before the Lord, the King." And the psalm is true; worshipping the Lord can be a joyous experience if we allow it to be one.
1 comment:
Rich, these entries just keep getting better and better! I love that you're actually delving into the provided Scripture rather than setting for someone else's analysis... I've never really been into set Devotionals, because I find them so stiffling sometimes, but you're really doing a great job of breaking out of that box and finding your own God-led insight. Great job, bro. Miss & love, see you soon!
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