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“Worship” Mary Willis PAST_6013C Robby Pearson

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As I read Whitney’s chapter pertaining to worship, I began to reflect on the past couple of weeks and my time of worship with God. There are different reasons to worship; however, there are the two main reasons are we are called to worship by God. In Matthew 4:10, Jesus is obedient to the Old Testament command “Worship the Lord your God” (80). The second most important reason to worship is to appreciate at the one who saves us from our sins. It is a privilege to worship our Lord. We were called, and we must obey. Psalm 95:6 represents how worshiping is a privileged duty, “Come, let us bow down and worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker” (80). In definition, it is highly difficult to define the word worship because there are so many different meanings related to the word; however, according to Whitney the word worship means “God is to ascribe the proper worth to God, to magnify His worthiness of praise, or better, to approach and address God as He is worthy (81).” This definition encompasses the true meaning of worship. I believe in today’s society, speaking from experience, we are too caught up in the cycle of life to appreciate God’s blessings in life. I have fallen short of this many of times. Often my excuse is I am too busy to stop to look at the beauty in His creation or stop and reflect on His work in my life. The more we invest into our creator, the more we see how worthy He is to us. There are different ways to show worship to our Lord. Ultimately, reading scriptures is an up-most form of worship. Prayer is a response to God as He is revealed in Scripture, and so is giving (82). Singing, dancing, gathering, etc are all versions of worship. “Whenever you do focus on the infinite worth of God, you will respond in worship as surely as the moon reflects the sun. This kind of worship isn't in vain (83).” This statement for Whitney made me think of the

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day we would be in the presence of God, and we will fall to our face and bow. I think in a sense we need to do this daily. We need to be more appreciative our Lord, and his sacrifices; however, we cannot lose Him from being in the center. If we are going through the motions and not solely focusing on our Creator, then we are not truly worshiping. We worship the spirit and the truth, which is found in John 4:23-24, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth.” Whitney also discusses how worship is a disciple to be cultivated. Worship is a response of a heart in love with God: it really is not calculated (88). However, like Whitney points out, people become their focus (88). I am in agreement with Whitney. If people focus their heart and mind on God then the more we will truly worship God. As far as application, I believe God should be worshiped through both the highs and the lows of life. God is present when we are successful, and God is present when we hit rock bottom. He is our rock and protection (Psalms 18:2). From personal experience, through my worship, I tended to worship when my life was in order; however, during low points in my life, I used to try to handle matters into my own hands. I knew this was wrong; however, I needed to be in control. I find it hard to have a set plan for application because worship is from the heart, and I try to avoid setting plans for my worship time. I want to be taken off guard; however, during my scripture readings, I usually reflect on the reading throughout the day, and I find little ways to

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worship God. However, as Whitney pointed out worshiping is a discipline; therefore, I plan to be more conscious on my time of worship. This means to eliminate all distractions. Also, I need to be intentional to actually put the act of worship into my time of worshiping, which if my mind and heart is in the right place then I will experience the warmth and hand of God. Recently, my grandmother passed away and as tragic and heartbreaking this event was and is in my life, this was the first time I worshiped God for using such a lovely woman for His blessings. Like Psalms 18:2 states, “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, my stronghold.” During this time, God has been my rock. He has shown the light of this tragedy. My grandma is no longer suffering because she is in the arms of the Lord.