[Continuing our study of Psalm 27. We’ve looked at confidence,the fear of man,vision,beauty, and the beginning of worship…glad you’re here with us today.]
And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD.
Here, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to You, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.“
Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O You who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! (6-9)
What is worship? Four things we find in this passage:
- Worship is sacrificial. “I will offer in His tent sacrifices…” Worship began with sacrifice. From Genesis chapter four on we see worship always include a sacrifice of some sort. Jesus fulfills the need for blood sacrifice but Romans 12 now tells us that our spiritual act of worship is the presenting of our bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1). Anything given up, gone without, laid down, or let go of for the sake of Christ rises as beautiful incense to His throne as an acceptable offering. David insisted that he would not offer to the Lord that which cost his nothing (2 Sam 24:24). In David’s mind worship always included cost or sacrifice.
- Worship is joyful. “… with shouts of joy.” Worship and despair cannot coexist. We cannot be grateful and anxious at the same time. We cannot worship God and willfully remain in a pit of sorrow. However, we also cannot worship God by detaching ourselves from our feelings. True worship feels. Often we enter into worship through despair, contrition, anxiety, pain, confusion, longing, desire, fear, but the consistent pattern of the Psalms shows every worshipper moving from these feelings and entering in to a rich encounter with God where these feelings are transformed into hope, joy, thanksgiving, awe, wonder, gratitude, peace, trust. The range of emotions we feel will be wide, but we must feel. To worship God without feeling is to “draw near with our lips” while our hearts are far from Him (Matthew 15:8-9).
- Worship is musical. “I will sing and make melody to the LORD.” God created music. Nothing moves the soul like music. Music wins battles (1 Chronicles 20), music changes feelings, music brings back memories, music lifts spirits, music elevates our mind from earthly things to the things of God. Nothing moves us like music moves us. We are wise to engage in music in order to move our hearts inline with God’s.
- Worship is prayerful. “You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek … forsake me not, O God of my salvation!” Worship without an encounter with God is not worship. It’s just noise. We can make great sacrifices for God, we can even be filled with emotion and be playing instruments beautifully and be carried up in the moment, but unless we actually have an encounter with the Living God true worship hasn’t taken place. David is offering joyful sacrifice and playing music, but He also is having a heart-conversation with God. God says to seek His face and David’s heart responds that he will. He speaks to God, cries out to God, is having a real, life, encounter with God. This is what separates Christian worship from a benefit concert. Both can make music and feel emotion and even inspire giving or some sort of action of sacrifice, but anencounter with God is what true worship is all about.
Which of these facets strikes your heart today? Is there one that serves as a helpful reminder? What would it look like for you to engage in worship today, throughout your day? Thanks for reading.