November 2008

I think I was in junior high school, I was talking to one of my friends and inviting him to church when he asked me what kind of things we did there. I tried to explain a church service to him and when I talked about praising God, a look of confusion crossed his face. He asked me this question, "What kind of egotistical God do you serve that you have to tell Him how great He is?" I must admit, the question caught me off guard and I am not sure how I answered him. But the question stuck with me through the years. Why do I worship God? Why do we come together as a church to sing praises? Why would God require us to do this? Is God an egomaniac?

Well, as you might guess, I do not believe that God is an egomaniac. God desires our worship not because of His need but because of our needs. God calls us to worship in part because:

1. God is not an egomaniac, but we are. God does not overestimate His value, but we overestimate ours. When we worship God we remind ourselves that we are not God. Further, in worship, we remind ourselves that God is not greater than us by degree; God is in a different category than we are. We owe our very existence to God, but in the hustle and bustle of life, we often forget that. Worship reminds us that God is greater than we can imagine.

2. We worship God because we often forget how good He is. One of the reasons we read and tell the stories of the Bible is because it reminds us that we are loved by God. Psalm 136 reminds us of God’s power in creation and history. After every line comes the refrain, "His love endures forever". We need to remember what God has done for us in the past, for that will give us reason to trust God in the future.

3. We worship God to remind ourselves He is worth knowing. Very often in our lives God acts in ways that does not make sense to us. When that happens, we are tempted to believe that God is not there or not interested in us. The truth is, God’s purposes are often much different than ours. But if worship has reminded us that God is great and that God loves us, perhaps pursuing the heart of God is worthwhile, even when He is going in a direction that does not make sense to us.

At first glance, it seems strange that God would require us to worship in order to benefit us. God does not need to hear our worship, we need to hear it and listen carefully, so we do not begin to fancy ourselves to be God. So next time you stand in church to worship, see it as God’s gift to you as much as it is your gift to God. When you worship, listen and let it change you as you envision it touching the heart of God.