Defined Worship

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. 2 Samuel 22:2-3


Oh Praise Him all the earth; proclaim His goodness from the heights! Sing aloud with passion and joy for He is our deliverer and His faithfulness has settled the troubled sea. I was lost and now I am found, returned home—and so let the whole world join together their hands and voice in one accord; let us please our God, maker of the heavens and earth and all that is good; for His delight is in our fullness and our salvation! He is both the shield which protects me and the horn which proclaims His joy in salvation. Let us in return proclaim from the east to the west His glorious name!

Is that not what worship is, the righteous bearers of God’s name held in the deepest gratitude, shouting to the four corners of the earth? And yet so often such a combination of words sounds so doctored? Instead of altering my praise I rather say: Let all see; let the lost sheep examine my life that they may see and hear the never changing but ever active song of salvation, the work of my Lord. The salvation of the ages, we together with the saints, shall see the Lord as redeemer. Earth once trembled by the weight of His spender and so it does now, ever turning.

In song I closed my eyes and found myself swept away, my imagination surrendered, among a great cloud of witnesses; joy was present in the form of all senses. Tangible, visible joy which would have confounded this world as I know it—and there I stood, part of a light like nothing I had ever seen. Suddenly I saw something I could not escape from. Beaming eyes and brilliant robes penetrated my heart and a myriad of angels enraptured my imagination as I fell to my knees, suddenly alone. Tears filled my eyes but any emptiness was soon filled with a music, which dancing about my ears, circulating about me. And I looked up to a hand which lifted me to my feet. And it was He, smiling. At that very moment I knew salvation, so undeserved. It was the hand that lifted me, the very hand which bore such stripes and pain. And though my sins once nailed Him, no guilt remained for I was home—and so should the praise continue.

Each song which tells the story of salvation, Christ lies at the center of. We have been given, each distinctly, a story which tells of our comings and goings, our losings and winnings, and most importantly of the final victory to which we proclaim the name Christ! And to each is given, his own life of worship and his own transformed heart; it is a gift more precious than anything the world could and will ever offer, the gift of unity made possible through the cleansing blood of Christ. Life is a zealous story of victory and worship is a mere giving back, the people called to be saints whom I will call brother shoulder to shoulder.

....but...why?

Is asking "why?" dangerous? ...It is, sometimes, depending on your expectations.

God works in mysterious ways, and His character is made clear in the Bible, but the way He works remains largely a mystery. I had a conversation with my friend's dad about this and came to the conclusion myself that, although you can have faith and pray for something, really the best thing you can do (in addition to praying in faith) is ask God to help you understand why He worked the way He did in this situation; why things happened the way they did.

However, I began to think about how dangerous asking "why?" is. It is because I personally like to know things NOW, rather than later (It's the reason that Wikipedia can send me on so many rabbit-trials--a lot of subjects just catch my interest and I want to know it all, now). I also know that the information I do receive is rarely enough; and thus, always wanting more evidence, I'll begin to doubt, even the very tenets of my faith. Verification and the desire for empirical evidence can become an appetite like any other; that's why I believe some of the theological arguments that take place are unprofitable--because more evidence doesn't ever prove anything; it just provides due cause for doubt. And clearly, some things we're never going to know; should we have faith enough to allow it to be released in God's timing? I know that the universe is so infinitely big and our scope is so infinitesimally small that there will always be enough reason for two conflicting ideas to be true, at least as people perceive (and just speaking philosophically, one perception is equal and not greater than another perception); it's the nature of paradox, or as I would like to say, our limited understanding!

To be clear and conclusive, I believe you should ask God why, but you should not get angry when you don't get enough information (because, by definition of appetite, hunger is natural). A person should seek to get more information, but learn to accept our finiteness.