Malachi talks about worship? I thought it was all about tithes and offerings.

Malachi was given a burdensome revelation from God. His message is heavy, not light, and carries many warnings of impending punishment or, even worse, the message that God not only isn’t pleased with the people, He’s not going to meet with or reside with them anymore. The statement that He would just as soon have the Temple doors closed so they can’t enter implies that when they do enter, He won’t be there to answer or respond. The people have offended God greatly, and He’s not going to take it anymore.

Malachi begins with the ominous statement that this revelation is a heavy burden (in the Hebrew the word for revelation means "burden"). Malachi, whose name means “My messenger,” was going to carry a message of warning and a direct accusation against the people and the priests of Israel. The people of Israel have been struggling under oppression, and while they’ve been allowed back into their homeland, many still feel as if God doesn’t care about them. If He doesn’t care about them, why should they care about Him? Malachi begins his message by answering the question, “Does God really love us?” God’s response is that He chose them and rejected Esau (Edom). Even though Edom thinks she will rebuild and become great again, God reminds the people that He’s pronounced judgment on Edom and won’t allow them to rebuild, but will ultimately overthrow them. God will do this so Israel and the world) will be able to look on it and know that He is God, He is in control, and that His name will be praised, even beyond the borders of Israel. In other words, God desires for all men to know His fame, and He wants His people to know His love and care for them.

Having given proof that God still loves them, Malachi drops right into the indictment against the people. It’s natural for a son to respect his father, yet the people of Israel have no respect or honor for God. The people don’t understand this, since they still are going through all the motions of the sacrifices they are to offer to God for His good pleasure. However, God hates their offerings. Why? Because they aren’t bringing Him their best. They’re bringing Him whatever they feel like bringing – usually the sick and the damaged – feeling that since they at least are offering something that God must be pleased. God responds in anger that they have no respect for Him anymore, that they are bringing to Him offerings that they wouldn’t even dare to give to a ruler or someone in authority. Why would they give God something worse than they would give each other and still expect God to accept what they offered and be happy with it? God had reached the point where He says that they may as well close the doors of the temple and stop the sacrifices they’re offering because He won’t be there to accept them – since they’re an offense to Him as it is. God desires the worship and praise of all people, and he wants it to be authentic, from the heart worship, not a going through the motions so I’ll bring whatever I feel like bringing worship (which isn’t God-worship at all but self-worship).

It gets worse from there. Not only do they not offer their best for sacrifices, they disrespect even the very act of the sacrifice, turning up their noses at it, considering it common or profane. God calls their attitude and actions “tiresome.” Why should He accept blemished and worthless sacrifices offered by people who don’t even care what they bring to Him? How authentic is that kind of offering of worship? God calls the people hypocrites for going through the motions without having the right heart for what they are doing. Should they continue, God promises great punishment and condemnation for their actions. Why? Because He is the greatest King, and He will have His name be awesome among the nations.

What are the implications for us today? This heavy burden was saved for us to read and learn from for a reason, so how would this apply to us today? It starts with this question: “What kind of offering of worship to we bring to our God on a daily or weekly basis?” When we gather together on a Sunday morning, are we really bringing our best for our God, or do we come out of obligation? Do we see times of corporate worship as incredible opportunities to worship together the God Who loves us, or is it so common to us that we go through the motions with ease, focus more on our conversations with friends than our conversations with God, or even have no problem skipping out or leaving for any reason? God is basically telling us in this message that if we aren’t going to bring Him the best of what we have, if we don’t come to worship having Him as the sole object of our worship and our reason for being there, we might as well stay home. God looks for and will meet and bless the people who seek Him first and offer Him proper offerings of worship and praise, but will refuse to meet with people who are there out of obligation, who don’t bring their best but choose to turn up their noses, as it were, to the true, authentic offerings being offered. What does the way we live our lives the rest of the week say about whether our offerings of worship are authentic or not? God is looking at the total package, not just at what happens during an hour and a half on a Sunday morning. And remember, He is looking at our hearts and our motivations, not just at our outward actions. He knows whether we’re being real or not, whether it’s authentic or merely going through the motions.

God is looking for people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. Those whose worship isn’t in spirit or in truth He labels hypocrites and promises condemnation if they don’t repent and return to authentically worshiping Him. Those whose worship is real, however, He showers down His love and blessing. God wants more than anything for His name to be the greatest and the most worshiped in all the world. He takes it very seriously, and we have been created to give Him that praise and honor. Not doing so robs Him of that honor and that glory, and in the coming chapters Malachi delivers even weightier messages concerning robbing God and its consequences.

thoughts from Malachi

Whenever I think of Malachi, I think of the last book of the Old Testament, the 400+ year silence before the birth of Christ, and tithes and offerings (test Me and see). This time, I'm reading Malachi from a worship perspective, seeking to relate Malachi's message to our worship today. God has some very strong words for our offerings of worship, and I'm looking forward to getting deeper into the message God sent to us through His messenger (in Hebrew, Malachi means "my messenger").

Did you ever just stop...

Have you ever stopped to wonder what it must have been like when God created the heavens and the earth? Did you ever wish you could have been there when God spoke everything into existence? I can just see the angels watching in awe as God speaks and things begin to happen. God said, “Let there be animals on the earth” and BOOM! Animals of every kind suddenly appear. I’ll bet the angels went wild with cheering and rejoicing. God looks over at them and says, “You liked that? Wait until you see what’s coming next! I’m going to create humans. They’ll be made different from all other creation, because I’ll make them in My image. When all of creation looks at them, they’ll be able to see a picture of Me.” Imagine the buzz of excitement the angels must have felt as they watched God form man from the dust. Already they know something is different. God had simply spoken everything else into existence, these humans were different. Then, God breathes life into the shape He’d made and Man was born. I imagine the angels must have gone wild in celebration. That’s how the Bible begins, with the wonder of creation. Jump to the end of the book and you find a new Heaven and new earth with a new Jerusalem. Imagine the wonder of that sight, the perfection, the beauty, the grandeur. Of course, chances are your gaze will be riveted on the Lamb, on the brightness of God shining so brightly that there’s no need for a sun to shine. The Bible, bookended with wonder.

How about the middle? All you have to do is head to Psalms and you’ll find the psalmists over and over speaking in awe and wonder of God or telling of how they see His glory in His creation. You find that God has encompassed His creation with His glory and grandeur, but we humans are the ones He created to truly see and feel that sense of wonder that comes from seeing Him and all His glory at work. Think about the last time you watched in wonder at a beautiful sunset or sunrise, or maybe marveled at the awesome power on display during a thunderstorm. Maybe it was from watching a row of ants moving an impossible load across the yard or gazing at the majesty of a lion on the hunt. Do you realize that humans are the only creation that would ever truly pause to stop in wonder of a site like that? Why? Because of all creation, we alone are capable of realizing the beauty and design behind what we’ve seen. I know some of you are thinking, “Animals must have the ability to sense wonder, beauty and awe. I’ve watched my dog Jethro sit and gaze at the sunset. Surely he is able to appreciate the beauty in that.” Now I realize that Disney, cartoons, and even animal rights activists have worked hard over the past several decades to convince us that animals are as human as they can be, but, really? Do animals really stop to smell the roses, gaze at sunsets, or stare in wonder at a night sky, or do they go about their way, living the life they were created to live? Now, this is not an argument against PETA or other activists, simply a statement that we alone of all creation have the capacity to be in true awe and wonder, having the ability to see beyond the surface into the deeper reasons and thoughts. We were made that way.

Because we are made that way, there is within us the desire to be lost in wonder, the desire to know that there is something much bigger than us out there. We long for those moments when we are knocked into silent wonder, almost unable to even breathe as we are enveloped in the amazement of that which is greater than us. It’s in those moments of worship we find ourselves simultaneously humbled and lifted up, and that’s what worship is really about. David Jeremiah, in his book My Heart’s Desire, calls those moments true worship (p.16) and encourages us to realize that for us to truly worship we need to remember what it is like to get lost in wonder and amazement, to nurture and develop it and not let the circumstances or culture of the world we live in to take that away from us. Think of it this way. A small child looks at everything in the world in wonder. Everything is fresh and new, experiences happen for the first time. They are constantly in wonder of everything around them (maybe that explains why a purple dinosaur can sing a silly song and be such a huge celebrity among kids). But, as they grow older, they begin to see the same things over and over and what happens? They lose the sense of wonder and as they get older, a cynicism can set in causing them to think there’s nothing new anymore. Why do you think Hollywood spends so much on the newest technology, the latest CGI? Why are the top grossing movies today full of fancier and more spectacular special effects? Just watch a top grossing movie from 10 years ago and you’ll see. You’ll probably say, ”This is a classic, but, man, I wish they’d redo that scene so it could pop off the screen the way movies today do it.” (There’s something to be said about loving the classics, although could you see kids today sitting through The Court Jester with Danny Kaye or even Dante’s Inferno with Spencer Tracy?)

Things move forward at spectacular rates these days because people are seeking that sense of wonder, and they think it will only come when something bigger and better comes along. But, every so often, something happens that causes us to stop, all movement ceases, and we sit in silent wonder or joyful amazement like a mountain view or a baby’s first steps. God desires us to seek Him with that same sense of wonder, that child-like faith and wonder. That’s one of the reasons why children had such an important place in Jesus’s heart. The disciples had lost that wonder and saw the children as a nuisance. Jesus knew, however, that children looked for Him with that pure sense of wonder and held them up as an example for us to follow, not to be childish in how we act or seek Him, but to have that child-like faith and wonder, that comes to Him with open hearts and minds ready to be amazed by what He has done. David Jeremiah puts it this way: “We don’t need a convenient, compact god. We need the One who causes us to fall upon our knees, who leaves us speechless, who makes our eyes shine with His fire and causes us to depart as changed persons. And we need that God every moment of every day.” (p.18)

How do we keep that wonder in our lives, then? Psalm 66 lays out the response of a passionate worshipper lost in wonder of God. The psalmist begins with the exhortation for everything on earth to shout with joy to God, to proclaim His glory, not just to the world, but to God Himself as well. He’s seen what God can do, how great He is and is overwhelmed in wonder. He’s very passionate about his worship, that’s evident, not just from his language but his desire that the whole earth join him in his exuberant expressions of worship. And that’s the first step for us, too. Seeing the wonder of God must be a passion of the heart, something that compels us, that drives us, causes us to want everyone around us to join in. (If you’re like me, you probably need to stop here and do a self-examination.) You see, the psalmist wasn’t just shouting out words about some great God, no, he was crying out about a God he knew personally, a God Whom he’d seen at work in his life and all around him. That knowledge consumed him and lit a fire inside him that burned brightly for all to see. How well do we know God, not just about Him. What experiences have we had personally with the Almighty that drives us to cry out to everyone of the wonder and glory God contains?

He exhorts the listener to join him, to see what God has done, how He provided and took care of him and his people. He knew that God had brought them to where they were now because of their faithfulness to Him. How does where you are now speak of your faithfulness to God? If we are to live lives of wonder, we must be faithful to God, whether in good times or bad. Even if our enemies “walk on our hands” (v. 12), we still need to be faithful to God. We must trust Him at all times to be our Provider, our Protector, our God.

Living this life will require sacrifice. In verses 13-15 the psalmist tells God that he will go to the Temple and offer his sacrifices, the things he’s promised God he would do. So too for us, living lives of wonder will require that we give up something of ourselves – our time, our passions, our resources, our will. We must humbly submit ourselves to God and seek to live the life He’s laid out for us to live.

But living the life of wonder isn’t all about sacrifices or trials. No, the psalmist concludes the psalm with the exhortation for all who are listening to come and hear of what God had done for him as he has lived a life of passionate wonder. God was there whenever he was in trouble, listening and ready to respond. He knew that because he’d come to God on God’s terms, followed God’s plan, he was blameless before God. He knew that because he knew God heard his cries, both for help and of worship and praise, and knew that were he not blameless, God wouldn’t have listened. Instead, the psalmist knew and rejoiced in the fact that God had heard every cry, every shout, and hadn’t withheld anything from him, whether grace, mercy or love.

When we live a life passionately seeking the wonder of God, a life lived seeking to know Him personally and experientially, a life dedicated to being faithful to Him no matter the cost, willingly submitted to God’s control, we will find great reward. Life abundant and free. Blameless before God. Help when we need it. Love unending. And, perhaps the most important, constant wonder at the presence of God reaching into our lives in personal ways every day we live the life of wonder.

Excerpts from My Heart’s Desire by Dr. David Jeremiah. Copyright 2002, published by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, New Century Version, copyright 2005, Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Entering the throne room boldly

Hebrews 4 has this wonderful section of verses at the end of the chapter. Verse 12 tells us that God's Word is alive, powerful, able to cut us to the quick, to get directly to the heart of every issue in our lives, holding us all accountable for every thought and imagination. Verse 13 carries the theme over to God, stating that nothing can be hidden from Him, not even the deepest, darkest secret we have. It all is open before Him. Then, we get to the last three verses.

You might think that, after reading that both God and His Word are able to see and examine every little thing we do that there is no hope of ever living a life that would be good or pleasing before God. I mean, think about it. Every thought, every secret action. The “real” you that stays locked away deep inside where no one is able to ever see it. It’s so used to being in locked in the dark it’s probably gone permanently blind since it never has light to see by. That part of you. If we’re all honest we all would say that there’s a part of us we see as “ugly,” the part we think if people knew about us they’d run far and fast away from us, never to return. God sees that, and His Word cuts deeply enough into our hearts to reach that area and open it up before Him. Knowing that, some might think that there’s no way we would ever be able to live a life that would be pleasing to God. And, you know what? They’d be right – IF we were living our lives on our own, under our own strength and power. But, we don’t have to.

Verses 14-16 carry wonderful hope and the promise of living fulfilled lives. You see, we don’t have to approach God on our own. Sinful, messed up us attempting to stand before a perfect, holy God. On our own we wouldn’t last a second in the presence of His awesome glory. But we don’t walk into the throne room alone. We have a High Priest that goes before us, Who makes us worthy through the sacrifice of Himself that He offered on our behalf. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our Priest, and we are exhorted to hold fast to our faith in Him and what He’s done for us. Not just in respect to redemption, although that alone is enough, but Jesus did more than just pay our debt. He came to earth as one of us, lived a life like we live, faced the same issues, fought the same battles against temptation and sin, so He understands where we come from. He knows how hard it is to fight temptation – He fought it Himself. He knows what it’s like to put God’s will first and foremost in His life, even when He personally would have loved to have a different way to get it done – He did God’s will anyway. And, it’s because He faced those same struggles we have this hope: our Priest, Who faced the same trials and temptations as we do, is able to freely enter in to the throne room of God and because He can, we can too. Not only can we enter, we are told to enter with boldness and assuredness, knowing that we are there because we belong there, not as outsiders or outcasts, but as followers of the High Priest and ourselves the children of God. We find mercy freely poured out over our lives and we find the grace we need to make it through the situations in life we find ourselves in. You and I, as children of the King, are able to freely approach God because our High Priest came to this earth, lived our life, understands our struggles, opened Himself up to the unrelenting gaze and powerful examination of the Word of God and passed through the fire unscathed, perfect, to become the sacrifice He as the High Priest offered to God for our reconciliation and redemption.

Approach the throne with boldness. Find the mercy and grace you need to live the life God has called you to live. Worship in wonder and awe in the awesome presence of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The Journey of 1,000 miles begins with ...

I don’t know about you, but I have a problem with traveling. If there’s not much for me to do on the trip, I find myself wishing someone would have developed a transporter already so I could just beam from spot to spot instantly. I know my target destination, and I want to be there already. That’s why I travel with a laptop, iPod, books, anything to help me get my mind off the travel so I don’t focus on being “stuck,” especially in an airplane. (At least with driving there’s more to see, radio to play, and you can stop whenever you want to get out and stretch – especially important since I’m 6’4”.) On long trips on planes you find things to do to keep your mind off the lack of space to really stretch out the legs. On long trips by car I usually plan to have the time to stop whenever I feel like it, see sights, that sort of thing. Whatever it takes to break the monotony of travel. I would much rather instantly be there and skip the whole travel thing, but since we can’t do that yet, I manage.

What about living the Christian life? We know what our final destination is, and we know where we should be each day. Often we stop and ask ourselves how we’re doing. If you’re like me, it’s easy sometimes to be so focused on the destination that I forget that the trip isn’t as much about the destination as it is the journey to get there. Let me illustrate. A couple of years ago I drove with several folks from my church to New York on a mission trip. Pensacola, FL, to Matla, NY, is about 1400 miles, one way. 10 people in a church van pulling a trailer. Loads of fun. No, really. Well, loads of time sitting in a van with not much to do. Enough to make you go crazy if you’re not careful. Be fair. Think about the last time you drove on a trip that took 2 days hard driving. Remember? How do you make it that far without going crazy? I mean, on the road things begin to look the same mile after mile. One mile of pavement looks pretty much the same an any other mile. How do you acknowledge your progress? You establish goal points. It might be mile markers where some event happened to you on a previous trip or a city or exit that you like to take that has your favorite gas station or restaurant. It might be those all important rest areas for, you know, resting. Anyway, you approach the trip as a whole, but you break it down into smaller pieces so you can gauge how far you’ve gone and how far you have to go. That’s how you make it through a long trip.

The same is true with the Christian life. If you are so focused on the destination that you don’t have those intermediate win points to celebrate, you can find yourself feeling defeated or discouraged. And that’s the exact opposite of how our God of wonder desires us to live. The old saying goes that the journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, and that’s true. Sometimes, though, I wish it continued to say that it begins with a single step … after step … after step … until you get there. We live in an age when everything is instant: microwaves to cook food faster, drive-thrus at restaurants, faster and faster internet, instant messaging – face it, our whole world in America is about getting it faster, bigger, better. If we apply that thinking to our Christian lives, though, we’ll find ourselves frustrated that we aren’t where we know we should be. And frustration can lead to discouragement, which can lead to defeat and surrender, an acceptance of where we are and a lack of desire to move forward. God never wants that life for us. He desires us to live in wonder and awe of Him, in victory and peace, full of hope. That’s why we’re encouraged to remember the things God has done for us and share them with others – so we see the victories we’ve had that fuel our passion and desire to keep moving forward, those victories that remind us of the greatness of God and drive our worship of Him.

Proverbs 3:18 (NCV) tells us that the way of the good (righteous) person is like the light of dawn, growing brighter and brighter until full daylight. If we see the full daylight at our destination (heaven with God), then our walk should constantly be moving towards full light. What our walk can’t do is go backward, towards more darkness, but move ever forward, little by little, until we reach the fullness of day. Think about the last time you watched the sun come up. It wasn’t like a cartoon, dark one second and full daylight the next, rather, it gradually got brighter, almost so slowly that you missed it unless you happened to close your eyes for a second to remember the previous moment, then open them again to see how much brighter the world was. It’s the gradual, continual movement forward that gets us to our final destination, and we must see the journey as a series of steps, not an instantaneous leap.

How do we keep going forward, then, when faced with a journey that seems to take so long? Proverbs 3 gives some more advice. Verse 25 encourages us to keep our focus on the things that are right, to look straight ahead at what is good, to stay on that path, always moving forward, and not to follow the rabbit trails and evil paths along the way that try to distract us (v.27). In other words, we keep our focus squarely on the One who is the embodiment of good, and we remember all the good that He has done. We remember that while there are times when we can’t seem to see the sky getting brighter, as long as we stay on the path that leads to Him we can’t help but experience brighter skies the farther we go. We have to help those around us, encouraging them as well in their journey, for the reality is that as God followers we are all headed in the same direction towards the same destination. We never travel alone. God is always with us, and so are all those who follow Him as we do. We have a responsibility to each other to encourage and support and even celebrate with each other as we move forward, step by step, towards that final destination, the fullness of daylight, the throne room of God. We have to keep taking steps forward.

So, don’t give up, don’t get discouraged if while you’re moving forward you aren’t where you think you should be in your Christian walk. Remember that you are on a long trip, and set up markers for yourself so you can gauge constant forward movement. Take the time to remember what God has done, reflect in wonder of Him, so you can see that the sky is indeed getting brighter, the mile markers are actually getting higher and higher in number, the destination closer and closer. Celebrate each and every victory along the way, being careful to always give thanks and praise to the One Who gives you the victories. And keep stepping forward, from step 1 to step 1,000,001, knowing that each step brings you closer home.

Shock and Awe

Remember the campaign the military used during the beginning of the last war in Iraq? It's purpose was to be so terrible and complete that the enemy would be in shock and awe and be more inclined to surrender peacefully when faced with the potential desctructive force of the US military. Seemed to do a pretty good job at the time, too. We took Baghdad in record time and overthrew a tyrant. What happened after the "shock and awe" burned off, though? Those inclined to cause trouble got over the wonder and awe of the display of force and returned to their normal way of life, which in turn sent chaos and panic and pain across that nation as well as its affect on our own. What, you ask, does this have to do with worship? Glad you asked.

Let’s start the discussion by remembering. Do you remember the last time you came face to face with God, not in a casual, “Hey, it’s nice to see you” kind of way, but more of a “knock you on the seat of your pants, blow your mind” kind of way? Did you find yourself marveling in wonder and awe at the God Who had moved in such a powerful way? Out of that sense of wonder, something in you changed. At least for that moment, you existed in pure worship, giving God glory. Your thoughts changed, your actions changed, your mind changed. You had to go tell someone, you couldn’t keep it bottled up inside. And, if you’re honest, if you look back you can see how what you did during that time was different. You acted with joy and peace in your heart because God had become very real and very personal with you. What happened when that moment wore off, when things “got back to normal?” When what happened became more memory than existence? Does God seem as real now? Do you think of Him and His desire for your life as much as you did before?

We live in an age when we are bombarded by the “wonderful” and “incredible” every day. Technological advancements promise us bright, healthy futures and easier lives. Movies have developed to the point of being able to make fantasy look real. Commercials entice us at every turn with offers that, should we take them, promise the world. Reality, however, gives a different picture. Poverty and sickness run rampant around the globe. Personal debt runs at an all-time high. More people are on medication for stress and psychological issues now than ever before. Enough to make the best of us doubt the truth of the promises from media, government and technology we see around us. It becomes easy to be focused on ourselves and what will happen to us – we’re constantly blasted by information coming in from every angle, most either declaring that the world we’re comfortable with (as we know it) is all about to come crashing down around us or carrying the reports of the actions of evil people in our neighborhoods and around the world. Cynicism and sarcasm run rampant, shaping how we view the world and everything around us. Not much really causes us to stop all activity and sit in true awe any more, does it?

How often do we treat our Christian lives that way, living day to day trying to figure out how we’re going to make it, often never giving God another thought? At the same time, in the middle of all the hustle, isn’t there a voice in our heads crying out that life with God should be different than this, a longing to see God work in miraculous ways and to experience Him in deeper and more fulfilling ways?

Question. How often do you find yourself in awe of God? When was the last time you stopped in simple wonder of Who He is? Do you find yourself desperately seeking to spend as much time with Him as you possibly can, desiring to know Him more fully, more deeply than you did the day before? Or, are you satisfied with where you are and have no desire to move forward in your relationship with God? This is where we have to start, with an honest and truthful examination of our motives for living, of where we find our direction and purpose, of whether or not we spend the time necessary to see and be exposed to the wonder of God. Controlled by a passion to know Him – personally, experientially, powerfully – not just content to know about Him. Driven by personal experience of what it means to be in His presence, to hear His voice, to feel His leading and to see Him working. Do we serve Him with every part of our being or do we follow the popular slogans of the day and say the pithy statements about Him that make everyone around us think we are in better shape than we are spiritually? In other words, we actually DO what Jesus would do, not just wear the bracelet. Do we have daily times of private, personal worship, where we find ourselves alone with God, willing to give up whatever it takes to ensure we have those times of worship?

Dr. David Jeremiah wrote a book called My Heart’s Desire: Living every moment in the wonder of worship. In it he speaks of the rewards we gain by living, as he calls it, in the “wonder of worship.” Things like joy, deep, fulfilling joy. The kind that lasts because it’s based on Someone Who lasts, not on our circumstances or our own personal merits. How about being more devoted to God, more deeply connected to Him, your family and friends, and your purpose for living. How about finding yourself more driven to be accomplishing what you’ve been called to do, whether at work, at home, or in ministry? Or, how about finding your faith not just becoming alive and powerful, but staying that way, day after day, as you experience God and all His fullness?

Where do we start? Honestly, with confession and repentance. With an acknowledgement that we are not there, perhaps have not been there for a long time, but that we want to be there and are willing to surrender anything and everything necessary to get there. Until we are able to approach God with complete humility, to be able to say as David did, “Who am I that you would even care the littlest bit for me? I’m nothing. You are everything, and You are everything I need. I want to know You, to live in wonder and awe of Who You are, and am willing to do whatever it takes, to make whatever sacrifices it requires, for me to live this life.” In acknowledging our failure to live every moment in wonder we elevate God to the position He desires to have in our lives, that of being Primary and first. It’s then that He is able to reveal more of Himself, leaving us in wonder and awe, our capacity to worship Him having been expanded.

This is the journey I find myself on. I invite you to join me. The destination? Living every moment in the wonder of worship. Living a life that experiences God the way He desires me to experience Him, being changed by Him, and then changing the world around me because of Him. A life in which the shock and awe never wear off, because we live each day in the wonder of our Creator, our Savior, our King.

Change is coming

No blog today. I think I need to take this in a different direction and will do so soon.

Psalm 35

Psalm 35 (NCV)
v. 22-23: “Lord, You have been watching. Do not keep quiet. Lord, do not leave me alone. Wake up! Come and defend me! My God and Lord, fight for me!”

How often do you find yourself in the middle of a set of circumstances that seem to completely overwhelm you, and you don’t understand why they are the way they are? For example, people you treat as friends mistreat you, falsely accuse you, rejoice in seeing you falter or fall, yet you still care for them, pray for them when they are hurting, rejoice when they rejoice and cry when they cry. You find yourself unable to understand why they seem to be flourishing, flaunting their seeming successes at your expense. When they were in trouble you were there for them, helping them through it, yet when you face adversity, not only do they laugh and mock you, they often are part of the cause for that adversity. What would your response be in times like that?
In Psalm 35, that is exactly the situation David has found himself in and is crying out to God for deliverance from. David is feeling overwhelmed by the ferocity of his enemies (whom he treated as friends) and their desire to see him fail and fall. He describes them as desiring to see him shamed, ruined, he even calls them ravenous lions in their desire to see him torn apart, ripped to shreds. Their enjoyment at his trials baffles him, especially in light of how he cared for them when they were suffering, even praying and fasting for their relief from their troubles. What was his response to the treatment of these people? Did he call for their total and complete destruction for what they had done to him?
Actually, his cry was for God to come and fight for him on his behalf. He asked God to shame those who sought to shame him, ruin for those who sought to ruin him, for God to repay them for the evil they had done to him when he had done them good. David sought deliverance, salvation, from these enemies. Here’s what he didn’t do. He didn’t say, “God, I’m going after them for the way they’ve treated me. Go with me, fight with me, help me destroy them for how they have tried to destroy me.” David doesn’t go to God for vindication. He goes for deliverance. He goes to God and asks God to do all the fighting, all the delivering.
David knew that it would do no good for him to seek to solve the problem. By himself, he could accomplish nothing. However, he also knew that God cared for him and was more than capable of interceding on his behalf. So, rather than acting aggressively, he humbly cries out to God for help and salvation. He knew that God not only was able, but that by allowing God to do the fighting, two things would happen. First, the problem would be resolved totally and completely. Second, that by allowing God to fight his battles, God would receive all the glory for the victory. Throughout the psalm, David speaks of telling everyone of the greatness of God, of singing His praises to everyone around him. He knew that if his enemies defeated him, it would be more than just a personal defeat for him, but that his enemies would boast that they had defeated his God as well. David did not want that. He wanted God’s praises to be sung for and wide by all his friends, those who served his God with him and who would rejoice when God worked in their midst. Verses 27-28 close the psalm with this proclamation: “May my friends sing and shout for joy. May they always say, ‘Praise the greatness of the Lord, who loves to see his servants do well.’ I will tell of your goodness and will praise you every day.”
How does this apply to thoughts of worship? God desires to fight our battles for us. He knows that were we to fight on our own we would be defeated every time. He also knows that He is more than capable of winning every battle we will ever face. When we face a trial or problem, what solution gives God the greatest amount of glory, our slugging our way through, perhaps winning but completely worn down by the process, or if we were to go to God for deliverance, putting our trust in Him to fight the battle, then we carry on with our lives, giving Him all the praise and glory? David’s thought was for the greatness of God to be displayed first and foremost by God’s deliverance of him from his enemies. The same should be true for us. We don’t need to be living lives in fear of our circumstances or our enemies. Rather, we turn over the battle to the Lord. Now, before you think we have no responsibilities here, look more closely at David’s actions towards him enemies. He still treated them with the respect of friends. He didn’t rejoice when they were hurting or troubled, he didn’t treat them the way they treated him. Rather, he poured out the love of God toward them. Obviously, by the time David wrote this, he had been under attack for a while, given the amount of complaints against his enemies, yet never does he say that he had tried to attack them. He left the fighting to the Lord. He wanted God’s greatness and goodness to be on display.
Sometimes, living lives of worship means we go through times of great trial or attack, even from those we considered close to us. The worshipper knows, though, that God is his Shield, his Defender, and that living the life he’s been called to live, resting in the confidence of his faith in the Lord, brings the greatest witness, the greatest testimony, the greatest glory to God. So, turn the battle over to the Lord. Focus on giving Him praise and glory. Then you too can echo David’s prayer, “I will tell of your goodness and will praise you every day.”

Psalm 34

Psalm 34:1-14 (NET)
v. 1-4: I will praise the Lord at all times; my mouth will continually praise Him. I will boast in the Lord; let the oppressed hear and rejoice! Magnify the Lord with me! Let’s praise His name together!

David’s just come through a very tense period in his life. And, unknown to him, about to enter an even greater period of tension. In this interlude, however, he stops and writes this psalm as an offering of praise. But he doesn’t want it just for himself. He wants all who hear or read or sing this psalm to praise God with him. Here’s the back story.
David has been running for his life from Saul, who wants to kill him. He and his men and their families have done the unthinkable in an effort to escape Saul – they’ve gone to the Philistines to live. For a short time they live in peace, secretly attacking Israel’s enemies, including the Philistines, while there. Then, one day, David gets called in to the king’s throne room. Fearing he’s been found out, David resorts to acting as if he’s crazy in the head, mental, while in the throne room, praying that the king would think him mad and send him away instead of killing him. It works, and David is allowed to leave. He and his men and their families are left alone. In joy, David pens this psalm.
Is it any wonder that he would be praising God? Absolutely not. But he doesn’t want to praise alone. He wants to praise God together with you and me and all who read his cry of praise, his song of salvation, his shout of joy in celebration of his deliverance. Praising God isn’t something we should want to do alone by ourselves. When God fills us up with joy we have to share it with everyone around us and we want them to join with us in praise. Think about the last time you had something incredible happen in your life. What was the first thing that you wanted to do? You had to tell someone. You didn’t keep it to yourself. You had to let others know. The same is true for our praise of God. We should want His praise to ring out, not only from our hearts and our lips, but from the hearts and lips of everyone around us. David greatly desires that we praise God together, and in the rest of the psalm he gives his reasons why God is so worthy of his praise in that moment. In other words, this is David’s new song (see yesterday’s post), and he’s sharing it with the rest of us.
First, David acknowledges that God is able to save us from all fear and rescue us from all trouble. David was fearful for his life and the lives of his people when he entered Abimelech’s throne room, that’s why he acted like a mad man. He saw God first-hand deliver him from his fears when he was released and realized that God had just saved him and his people from great trouble. He gives an incredible statement in verse 8. Taste and see that the Lord is good! He’s saying to go beyond just listening to or seeing or touching to full on commitment tasting Him. Not physically placing Him in your mouth, chewing and swallowing, of course. He’s telling us to commit, to go all the way, to place our faith and trust in God fully. In doing that, we will know, experientially and unequivocally, that He is good. When you place food in your mouth, chew and swallow, you’ve made the full commitment. There’s no turning back now. If the food is good or bad, it’s already in your system at some point and will affect you accordingly. David is saying, “God is great and good, but you’ll never know that if you don’t experience him. And to experience Him fully, you’ve got to go beyond the mere seeing or touching or even listening. You’ve got to make Him a part of your life. You’ve got to let Him touch and affect you to the deepest part of your being. When you do that, you’ll find that He’s the greatest and the most good you’ve ever had.” Taste and see.
When you do, here’s what you find. He is our Shelter and Provider. His loyal followers lack nothing. Here’s the thought of total commitment again. Lacking nothing – not our wants or our western idea of our needs, but we won’t lack the things we truly need, the stuff that keeps us going and living lives for God. We will lack no good thing. In Matthew 6 Jesus asks His followers the question, “Don’t you think God cares more for you than the flowers and the birds? Seek Him first. He will take care of the rest.” Paul extends the thought in Philippians 3:6 when he tells us not to worry or be anxious about anything but to go to God in prayer with humility and thankfulness. The admonition is to let God’s peace envelop and hold us so that, as the psalmist says, God becomes our Shelter and our Provider.
Recognizing the power and greatness of God, to commit wholly to Him and find our rest, our provision, our everything in Him – David describes this as part of what it means to fear the Lord. It’s a recognition of our responsibility to live our lives for Him and an awareness of His righteousness and anger toward sin. David asks, “Do you want to live a long, happy life? Then watch what you say. Be courteous, not destructive or deceptive with your words and your thoughts. Seek to do good and run from evil. Don’t just seek peace for yourself but strive to bring peace – real, lasting, comes only from God kind of peace – to everyone around you. In other words, seek God, be overwhelmed by Him and His love and faithfulness to you, allow Him to encompass you with His peace, then let your praise overflow from your heart so that everyone around you is invited to join in with your rejoicing and they too are introduced to His peace and the life He has for them. Let’s praise God together!

Psalm 33

Psalm 33 (NCV)
v.1-3: Verse 1 states that all who do what is right (the righteous, in other translations) should sing to the Lord and that honest people should praise Him. The psalmist here is emphatically saying that all who are righteous, all who do what is right, should sing to the Lord, and not just singing songs, but that the honest (and if you’re righteous being honest should be a natural characteristic for you), should be singing songs or shouts of praise. In Psalm 32:7 the psalmist speaks of being filled with songs of salvation. The NET Bible calls these songs shouts of joy from people who are celebrating being delivered. I’ve talked with people who tell me that the reason they don’t sing or join in the worship at church is that music just doesn’t do it for them. Each of us has a different heart worship language, something that draws us into the presence of God more quickly than normal. For me, it’s music and nature. When I take the time just to stop and look around me, I see the handiwork of God in everything He’s created. That draws me to Him. The same with music. Whether it’s the message of the song or simply the majesty or beauty of a musical piece, I see God’s handiwork, His provision, His touch, and it helps to propel me into an awareness of Him. For others it may be something completely different. Here, however, the psalmist isn’t addressing a heart worship language, he’s addressing the need, the requirement almost, for those who are active followers of Jesus, those who are righteous, to express to God our praise and adoration, our worship, and to do it with music. While verse 1 speaks to using our voices in praise, verse 2 adds another element, instrumentation. Specifically mentioned here are a harp and lyre, stringed instruments, to be used in aiding our worship of our King. Verse 3 is an admonition to singers to sing new songs of praise to God and for the musicians to play to the best of their ability and to play joyfully.
Now, before you think I’m saying that everyone must sing in church and those who don’t sing are awful sinners, let’s talk about what it means to sing new songs of praise to God. Am I saying that we all must be walking around singing or we’re in grave disobedience? Of course not. That would look kind of scary, to be honest. Or sound very scary, especially around some people. Yet, I can tell you of people who can’t carry a tune in a bucket who have songs in their hearts that bubble over onto their faces and into everything they do. I love watching them worship. They may not be singing out loud, but their heart is giving shouts of praise and celebration because of what they’ve been delivered from and to Whom they have been delivered. For those of you who have no musical desires, never fear. Yes, the admonition here is to sing and make music. And, to briefly touch the subject, there should be a desire in all of us to join with others in a corporate offering of worship and praise to our God, which, yes, is often and sometimes most easily done through music and singing. But, as we know from when God selected David over his brothers, God is looking at our hearts. It’s very easy to sing words without examining the impact of what we’re saying or even to sing them and never mean them. That’s not what the psalmist is telling us to do. For those who are called righteous, we are to be lifting praise to God on a daily basis because He is worthy of our greatest admiration, praise, thanksgiving and awe. The psalmist, in the rest of the chapter, gives us reasons why we should be full of songs or expressions of praise towards God.
v.4-5 His word is true and everything He does is right. Not only that, but He loves what is right, and that love fills the entire earth.
v.6-9: The whole earth should worship and fear the Lord. Why? Because He spoke, and the sky was created. He breathed, and the stars winked into existence. The oceans and seas maintain their boundaries simply because He decreed it. His word is that powerful. He speaks and it happens.
v.10-12 His plans will last forever, and at any time He is able to thwart the plans of men. That’s why the people who follow Him are happy. They know He’s in complete control.
v.13-15 God watches everyone on earth. He sees everything that happens. And, because He made their hearts (physical and spiritual) He understands everything they do.
v.16-19 There is no power on earth that can guarantee victory in every war we fight. There is no army powerful enough, no weapon great enough. And yet, those whose hope is in the Lord have the confidence that He will watch over them, protect them, rescue them, simply because they rest in His love. Which is why
v.20-21 Our hope is in the Lord, our Shield, our Protector, our Strong Tower, our Strength. Because we trust in His word, in His holy name, our hearts are filled with songs of salvation, shouts of joy in celebration of deliverance from our enemies and deliverance into the love and grace of God.
v.22 The psalm ends with this prayer. “Lord, show Your love to us as we put our hope in You.”

When we live every day seeking this God, desiring to be devoted followers of Him and willing to subject ourselves to His correcting touch, we see this God revealed in ways that will blow our preconceptions and our minds with how great He really is. As Psalm 32:10 tells us, we will be overwhelmed by His love and faithfulness. When that happens, our hearts won’t be able to help but overflow in worship and adoration, with “songs of salvation and shouts of joy.” And that’s the new song the psalmist tells us to sing. We can sing Amazing Grace all day long, but if our heart isn’t consumed with the reality of that amazing grace we’re just singing tired, old words. (just wait) But, if we ARE consumed by His grace, then those same words become alive with great meaning and celebration. In other words, it’s all really a matter of the heart, YOUR heart, when it comes to singing songs of praise to the Lord.

So, sing new songs. Seek God, His truth, place your hope in Him and rest in His love. Bask in His glory and give Him the praise and honor and worship He is due. In return, He will fill your heart to overflowing with new songs every day of praise and thanksgiving. And you won’t be able to help yourself. Yes, even those of you who say you hate singing. In those moments you will find your own heart filled with song, even if only you and God ever hear it.

Getting started

Not a real post (that's coming soon). just couldn't leave the blog alone with nothing here