Worship

Psalm 89:15-18
   "15 Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship,
     for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord.

    16 They rejoice all day long in your wonderful reputation.
    They exult in your righteousness.

    17 You are their glorious strength.
    It pleases you to make us strong.

    18 Yes, our protection comes from the Lord,
    and he, the Holy One of Israel, has given us our king.


Until I went to College, I made the mistake of thinking that "worship" meant singing; and I admit I was ok with that. Once I took a course in school about worship, I understood that word to mean so much more then JUST singing or music. Dictionary.com defines worship as reverent honor and homage paid to god or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred. The act it's self is so powerful, that it got generations of Israelites into trouble. The Bible is far from silent on the issue of worship, Exodus 34:8, John 4:24 , Psalm 106:36, Jeremiah 10:8 and so on throughout the Bible. So why did I make the mistake of thinking it was all about singing? Even one of those songs I was singing "Come Let us Worship and Bow Down" states IN the song to worship, we bow down; and kneel before the Lord. How did I reach this conclusion then?

I'm not positive but I think it may have had something to do with singing songs in Church when I was growing up. There is something you have to know about me to understand why I might have gotten to that point. I love to sing, I always have and I'm sure I always will. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of my whole family singing around our old piano, in fact my sister likes to tease that our dad would "punish" us if we didn't learn harmony at a young age! Music has always been a huge part of our lives, so it seems almost natural for me to translate that to worship.

Now, as an adult; I realize that prayer, just being in His Presence and many many things, including singing or dancing are all part of worship. After all, the Psalmist said it best when he said :

Psalm 89:15-18
   "15 Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship,
     for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord.

    16 They rejoice all day long in your wonderful reputation.
    They exult in your righteousness.

    17 You are their glorious strength.
    It pleases you to make us strong.

    18 Yes, our protection comes from the Lord,
    and he, the Holy One of Israel, has given us our king.

On this, the Holy Week, let us all think of worship in a new light, the Light that is Jesus. After all, His sacrifice was the highest form of worship to God that I can think of.