The Inner Essence of Worship
I need to worship because without it I lose a sense of wonder and gratitude and plod through life with blinders on. I need worship because my natural tendency is toward self-reliance and stubborn independence. John Ortberg
We, human beings, are designed to worship. The question is, who or what do we worship? We all have an innate desire, whether we are aware of it or not, to worship someone or something. This, I think, comes from an emptiness in some area of our lives that causes us to gravitate towards an object of worship we think will be able to fill that void. We see this with social media, which has invaded our lives, or should I say, crash-landed into our lives. Our social media feeds are filled with so much of what we think we need to fill those empty places in our lives. We can find a plethora of “influencers” on social media who will give us “free” advice on what we need to do to make us feel good about ourselves. We reinvent ourselves based on what influencers tell us we should or shouldn’t do to make ourselves look better or feel better. Without realising it, we are worshipping at the altar of these influencers who have become like gods to us. What we wear, how we look, what we eat, and who we socialise with (or cancel) are all determined by influencers. We become moulded as it were, into the image of someone else, and we worship them instead of our creator God.
But what does it mean to worship God? When we think about worship, we often associate it with praise and worship songs we sing in church on Sundays. But what does it mean to worship God as opposed to praising Him? The root word for praise is “Hallel” from which we get the word “Hallelujah” which means to shine, to be boastful, to glorify Yahweh. We can express our praise to God through song, dance, music, gratitude and raising our hands.
Worship, on the other hand, has a root word “Shachah,” which means to bow down, prostrate, or lie flat on the ground. In other words, we submit and humble ourselves before God. We pay homage to Him. We do this because we stand in awe of His magnificence, His excellence, His beauty, His glory. Psalm 95:6 (NIV) says,
"Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker."
The Inner Essence of Worship
Worshipping God is, firstly, an attitude of the heart. This is what we could call the inner essence of worship. John Piper puts it this way: “The inner essence of worship is the response of the heart to the knowledge of the mind when the mind is rightly understanding God and the heart is rightly valuing God.”
This inner essence of worship is an expression of esteeming God and valuing God for who He is. We delight in Him, and our hearts desire Him and are satisfied in Him alone. We see Him as being worthy above all else. This is what drives us, compels us to bow down to Him, to prostrate ourselves in worship to Him.
When we are satisfied in Him, our hearts are awakened to the essence of who our God is – a holy God. The weight of His holiness and glory compels us to bow down in worship before Him. When we bow down in reverent awe at the altar of our eternal God, we will see that all other altars have no eternal value and will not satisfy our deepest longings.
For when we cease to worship God, we do not worship nothing, we worship anything.” GK Chesterton
I will delve more into the subject of worship in the coming weeks.
Reflection
Are you being influenced by others – your peers, social media influencers, or the world? Have they become idols, drawing you away from worshipping God? Take time to meditate on who God is. Ask Him to help you to have a deeper knowledge of who He is so that you will be satisfied in Him alone and worship Him only.
Prayer
Dear Lord, thank You that only You can satisfy my deepest longings. Help me not to be drawn to or influenced by things that are temporal in life. I pray for a deeper understanding of who You are. I pray that my heart will be awakened to the essence of who You are so that I will see You in Your holiness and bow down to You in reverent awe. Help me to worship You only. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.
