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Psalm 86:10, 15

“For You are great and do amazing things.  You alone are God.  15  But You, O LORD, are a compassionate and merciful God.  You are patient and demonstrate great loyal love and faithfulness.”

Buried in a mountain of paperwork all day, I had to emerge with the intent of my heart this morning of blogging what I discovered with the Psalmist today, on this wonderful “Worshipful Wednesday”.  As I was reflecting on what it means to worship God – really worship Him, I was reminded of the definition of worship.  The first definition that popped up on Google was interesting – “the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity”.  Wow.  In today’s society we worship many things – comfort, food, clothing, fashion, materialism, but this definition got it mostly right – only a deity – rather, THE one true Deity, God Almighty, is worthy of worship and the rightful recipient of worship.

God is worthy of our worship, but I daresay we miss the privilege of reflecting on that worth often as we barely tarry long enough in His presence.  So what is worship?  For me it is my eyes filled with tears daily as I write these devotionals, as I marvel at how good God is.  It is an inner joy and delight when I think of Him.  It is gratitude filling my soul to the brim.  It is contentment when sorrow is overwhelming.  It is simply thinking on Him and His word and proclaiming in my spirit and out loud truths about how worthy of praise God is.  It is choosing to worship Him when my soul is burdened.  He is too much for me to fully contemplate or comprehend.  Why, oh why, did He choose to have mercy on me? I am undone.

Words are casually used today.  People proclaim that objects, people or circumstances are “amazing” or “awesome”.  We can quickly apply such terms to God, but if it is not sincere, it become an overused term lacking passion, zeal and the love that God deserves.  Pause and take time to read the verse above.  Really read it.  What great and amazing things has God done in, for and through you?  Have we recognized His amazing acts or have they gone unnoticed?  Do we take for granted the goodness of God?  Our gardens should grow, our cars should work, our bank accounts should be full . . . but when things things do not come to pass, do we still worship Him?  Or are we sunshine Christians who worship halfheartedly or only when things are blessed in our eyes?

Oh, savor His compassion and mercy, that He did not destroy us.  His patience, forbearance, loyalty and faithfulness that are so much more than we deserve. 

Oh God, I worship You alone!  I proclaim Your worth, Your magnificent Holiness!  Draw us near to You that we may worship You in spirit and in truth!