Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. (Verses 1-2)
Yet You are holy, enthroned upon the praises (worship) of Your people. Psalm 22:3
I was awake in the night on Saturday as it turned into Sunday morning. It wasn't that things were weighing on my heart, it was that this song kept playing over and over in my spirit until it awakened me. My soul singing, I think. Your love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me...Over and over again. Louder and louder until I heard it and woke up. I lay there in surround sound soaking in the truth that I am loved...SO loved...by the God Who is my Father. I wished to look at Him...If I could only see Your face. It prompted this conversation with God about why He made it so that we must worship Him here, on Earth, while we have our being, in a very non-human, a-physical way. It's all interior--a matter of the spirit and soul. I don't discount that, though, because my interior, the soul and spirit that drive my actions and thoughts, is just as real as my body.
The woman by the well at Sychar was a Samaritan. A sinner to such a degree that the righteous women living in her town made her draw her water from the local well at noon so that they could avoid her unclean lifestyle. Married five times before, now simply living with a guy she hadn't bothered to marry, the woman was a pariah in the community. To this woman Jesus said: "I am He, your Messiah." The first pronouncement of His deity. There was an argument about religion between them. She thinking she'd defray her sinfulness with theology. But Jesus knew her. All about her. "Those who truly worship God, worship Him in Spirit and in Truth." We don't change from the outside in. It's not the plan. Jesus wanted a conversation with the Samaritan woman's heart, with the inner woman who so needed a different god--one not attached to some man--to live within her. Our needs are rarely all about the physical things we find ourselves doing. Knowing God is knowing Him because He invades our spirit with His. It's the way we come to know Him, and it's there God dwells. We are a living tabernacle in which the God of All sits enthroned.
After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with One seated on the throne. And He Who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald...From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire (Revelation 4). Before this glory are living beings praising God constantly: "Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created (vs. 11)." A bit of what is going on in heaven resides in me. Far-off homage coming near. Stirring me up to worship with those in heaven who see Him now. I couldn't adequately worship God with my physical body, although my devotion to Him should make my life an act of worship. Obedience out of reciprocated love. There is something within those of us who know Him that yearns to be engulfed in emerald splendor amidst the flashes of lightning and the claps of thunder. Worship brings me there and my God here.
It's no wonder God comes near to those who join with heavenly beings in acts of worship. He doesn't show up because it feeds His ego to hear us praise His name. God comes near because our spirit is joined together with His in eternal unity. He hears, from His throne, the familiar strains of worship borne of love--spirit to Spirit. When I awoke on Saturday with my heart singing so loudly, I thought of Zephaniah 3:17: The Lord your God is in your midst, a Mighty One Who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet You with His love; He will exult over you with loud singing. Your love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me!
Yet You are holy, enthroned upon the praises (worship) of Your people. Psalm 22:3
I was awake in the night on Saturday as it turned into Sunday morning. It wasn't that things were weighing on my heart, it was that this song kept playing over and over in my spirit until it awakened me. My soul singing, I think. Your love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me...Over and over again. Louder and louder until I heard it and woke up. I lay there in surround sound soaking in the truth that I am loved...SO loved...by the God Who is my Father. I wished to look at Him...If I could only see Your face. It prompted this conversation with God about why He made it so that we must worship Him here, on Earth, while we have our being, in a very non-human, a-physical way. It's all interior--a matter of the spirit and soul. I don't discount that, though, because my interior, the soul and spirit that drive my actions and thoughts, is just as real as my body.
The woman by the well at Sychar was a Samaritan. A sinner to such a degree that the righteous women living in her town made her draw her water from the local well at noon so that they could avoid her unclean lifestyle. Married five times before, now simply living with a guy she hadn't bothered to marry, the woman was a pariah in the community. To this woman Jesus said: "I am He, your Messiah." The first pronouncement of His deity. There was an argument about religion between them. She thinking she'd defray her sinfulness with theology. But Jesus knew her. All about her. "Those who truly worship God, worship Him in Spirit and in Truth." We don't change from the outside in. It's not the plan. Jesus wanted a conversation with the Samaritan woman's heart, with the inner woman who so needed a different god--one not attached to some man--to live within her. Our needs are rarely all about the physical things we find ourselves doing. Knowing God is knowing Him because He invades our spirit with His. It's the way we come to know Him, and it's there God dwells. We are a living tabernacle in which the God of All sits enthroned.
After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with One seated on the throne. And He Who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald...From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire (Revelation 4). Before this glory are living beings praising God constantly: "Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created (vs. 11)." A bit of what is going on in heaven resides in me. Far-off homage coming near. Stirring me up to worship with those in heaven who see Him now. I couldn't adequately worship God with my physical body, although my devotion to Him should make my life an act of worship. Obedience out of reciprocated love. There is something within those of us who know Him that yearns to be engulfed in emerald splendor amidst the flashes of lightning and the claps of thunder. Worship brings me there and my God here.
It's no wonder God comes near to those who join with heavenly beings in acts of worship. He doesn't show up because it feeds His ego to hear us praise His name. God comes near because our spirit is joined together with His in eternal unity. He hears, from His throne, the familiar strains of worship borne of love--spirit to Spirit. When I awoke on Saturday with my heart singing so loudly, I thought of Zephaniah 3:17: The Lord your God is in your midst, a Mighty One Who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet You with His love; He will exult over you with loud singing. Your love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me!
No comments:
Post a Comment