What is Worship?
I have been thinking lately of about the heart of worship and what it really means to worship God with my whole being. I mean, what is worship anyway? Is it the songs I sing, the prayers I pray and the things I do for God or is it actually something much deeper? I believe that worship is so much more than all of those things. It is the act of choosing to glorifying God above all things and it can take place in every thing I do or say. Worship is the most humbling thing we can ever do and it goes in direct contrast to the original sin motivation of Adam and Eve.
We can read in Genesis how Satan tempted them and offered them the chance “to be like God.” It appeared on the outside to be a helpful offer of self improvement, but in reality it was the step to take away from God the glory that is rightfully His.
The sad thing was that Adam and Eve did not see the position they already had, but instead were presented with what they thought they lacked. The bible says that they were created in God’s image meaning that they were already like God. Satan offered them a lie dressed as truth and they swallowed it whole with one bite of that fruit.
Obedience is the first act of worship I can make. God simply said, don’t eat from the fruit of that tree, for if you do you will die. A simple instruction to follow and one that only required obedience to be fulfilled. This obedience cemented the close relationship they had with God – one of fellowship, provision and love. Obedience honours God and gives Him the rightful place of honour in our lives that He deserves. It is the ultimate act of worship.
David and Worship
I spent some time recently looking at David’s reaction to obedience and honour in 2 Samuel 6. In this chapter of the Bible we see David finally taking the Ark of God to Jerusalem. Sadly, Uzzah, is struck dead for touching the sacred box during the first attempt at its transportation. At first it’s easy to think that God was rather hard on Uzzah. But things are not always as they seem.
We believe that God is the God of justice and truth. So when we find things in the Bible that don’t seem to match up with that, it is always a good idea to go a dig a bit deeper into scripture. I find it helpful to look back and see if there is a just reason for His actions rather than a just a perceived lack of justice and thirst for vengeance. If we go back a bit in the history of the Israelite people, we can see that Moses gave strict instructions to the people on how to treat and move the Ark of the covenant. You can read about this in Numbers 4. These instructions were not a self made list of dos and don’ts given by Moses to the people. They were God’s direct instructions for moving and caring for the Ark, and again – like the first command in Eden, they were given for our protection. Sadly, when initially taking the Ark to Jerusalem, these instructions were not followed. The Ark was put on a cart pulled by oxen rather than carried by poles on the shoulders of the Kohathites , a subsection of the tribe of Levi. The oxen stumbled and Uzzah put out his hand to steady the Ark. It was forbidden to touch the Ark and Uzzah paid for this act with the penalty clearly told to the people by Moses. Unfortunately this meant that he died.
Now before you say that God was being rather unjust and ask how would Uzzah have know this would happen, remember that the Ark of the covenant was the symbol and place of agreement the people made to follow God’s way rather than their own. It was the place of mutually agreed obedience. They knew this and were taught this from an early age. They knew the penalties of not following the very clear and specific instructions. This was particularly true of Uzzah, as he was a Levite so in the line of those chosen by God to care for the Ark. It’s important we stop placing the blame for the consequences of our disobedience in God’s hands.
The wonderful thing about the Ark is that it was not just the visible symbol of that agreement between the Israelites and God. It was also the physical place of that agreement and the presence of God dwelt there (you can read about it in Exodus 25:10-22). It was so important for God to be with his people that he designed a safe place for Him to commune and dwell with them and it was wrapped up in that agreement. The God of the universe squished himself into a spot just above the box of the agreement, just so he could commune with us without hurting us. The Ark was God’s original place of atonement for His people. The lid of it was even called the place of atonement. That place of Heavenly redemption was so close to God’s heart that it was protected to the fullest. Satan tried to steal that place once before in Eden. God was not about to let that happen again. Touch that place, and you die.
Let’s go back to the moving of the Ark to Jerusalem. We’re still in 2 Samuel 6 but have fast forwarded a few months and David decides to have another go at moving the Ark. This time he has learned his lesson from the first attempt and has followed all the instructions. In fact, So keen is he to the act of obedience that he makes a sacrifice to God every 6 steps and dances before the Ark all the way to Jerusalem. It was a long and tiring day of stop start walking, sacrifice, singing, and dancing.
But after all this it is important to understand that Godly obedience will not always be understood and appreciated. And sadly, the ones who may ridicule you the most are likely to be the ones closest to you. In this case it was Michal, David’s first wife and daughter of Saul. She ridiculed David and calls him foolish for dancing so hard in the streets all day. She scolded him for his worship and placing God’s honour above his own. When David came home to bless his family, this is the response he got.
“When David returned home to bless his own family, Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet him. She said in disgust, “How distinguished the king of Israel looked today, shamelessly exposing himself to the servant girls like any vulgar person might do!””
2 Samuel 6:20 NLT
While reading Michal’s response, God took my mind to another point in scripture. To another act of shameless exposure.
Jesus and Worship
I love how stories in the Old Testament so often foreshadow occasions seen in the life of Jesus. And this This time, It’s the moment of shameless exposure of Jesus nailed to a cross to pay for sins. Crucifixion was brutal. It was the worst most painful way to die and it was also done as a form of humiliation to the one being crucified – You were crucified in public and left to die while naked.
Back in Genesis, God gave Adam and Eve clothing to cover the nakedness and shame of their sin. Jesus, our sinless redemption offering had his nakedness exposed to the world revealing clearly that there was no sin or shame in him to cover – and yet His death covered ours.
And standing at a distance through this all were a few very special women – servants of the master watching over the undignified death of the one they loved. They didn’t watch with disgust, they watched with love, pain and despair. They didn’t yet understand the that three days later everything would be made right. They just looked on at the undignified obedience and worship of the Son of God who put obedience and worship to God over his own honour and preference.
“Obedience is better than sacrifice,
1 Samuel 15:22
and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.”
Jesus portrayed to the world the act of obedience. The cross is the ultimate example of lived out worship.
