Worship today is misunderstood; what passes for worship in churches amounts to people cheering themselves up by breaking into song; to that extent, it is self directed not God directed.
The great sin of Israel and, it must be said, of Christianity, was, and is, to offer worship to God without truly loving Him; and to love Him truly, means you have to know Him truly.
Because Christianity, like Israel, has done what it likes in the name of God and He has remained silent, or, as the Preacher puts it; “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily” (Ecclesiastes 8:11), it has made the same mistake of thinking “that I was altogether such a one as yourself” (Psalm 50:21).
But His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9) and we must worship God on His terms, not ours. It has always made God angry that His people embrace religious form rather than intimacy with Him; this is what He calls idolatry, because it is putting a false fire upon the altar. Banging of drums and shouting Hallelujahs may be praise, and you can praise God anywhere and anytime, but worship is something else.
Worship of God depends upon His presence; you cannot worship in the abstract, or worship a memory or an idea because worship must come from a loving heart to a living God. It is the very presence of a holy God that brings forth true worship and in that awesome presence the worshipper is first of all struck dumb. One is caught up in a breathless silence where only God and the worshipper exist.
There are joys and delights that the worshipping heart may enjoy when the Shekinah manifests, which cannot find expression in any human language; these belong to the unutterable elements of Divine worship that, sadly, are not enjoyed by many, because religion turns individuals away from discovering and developing the sanctuary of the heart, where true worship of God must take place, and instead leads them into the noise-some cacophony of religious pseudo worship.
But, when the Holy Spirit is allowed to exercise full sway in a redeemed heart and the presence of God is known and experienced, an inspired love for God overpowers us and words and song break down under the weight of glory, and the soul is blessed with blessings that are unutterable.
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