George Barna surveyed thousands of churchgoing Christians. The question was asked: "Have you ever experienced God in a worship service?" Only one-third said that they regularly experience God in church.

William Hendrix's book Exit Interviews is about why today's generation is leaving the church. He summarizes the views of many worship dropouts: "Perhaps the most common complaint was that worship services were boring. It was not just that these gatherings were not interesting; they were not worshipful. They did little to help people meet God." (p. 260)

Sennacherib was the King of Assyria. Assyria was a very strong country to the north and east of Judah. About 700 years before Jesus came to the earth, Sennacherib attacked Judah. But God fought for Judah. Sennacherib did not win the war. Many of his soldiers died. The story is in Isaiah chapters 36 and 37; and also in 2 Kings 18 and 19.

Psalm 76 is the “after” of Psalm 75. In Psalm 75, God was about to deliver Judah; in Psalm 76, the psalmist thanks God for the deliverance after the fact. It tells us that God did not let the enemy destroy Jerusalem.

From the text…

- To say that God is known and God's name is great indicates that God is revealed and knowable…

For God to be known…

- There must be a hunger for God (Ex. 33:13)

- There must be an encounter with God (Ex. 33:18)

- In this psalm, there are two other names for Jerusalem: Salem and Zion,

- verse 2. "Salem" means "peace" (or no fighting);

- Zion is the name of the hill where the Israelites built their temple. The temple was the place where they met to praise God.

- The phrase His dwelling place in Zion uses an interesting word. “Not His ‘abode’ but His ‘covert’ or ‘lair’. It's a comparison of the Lord to a lion!

- There He broke the arrows of the bow: Jerusalem became the center of Israel when David conquered the city and brought peace to the city of peace (2 Samuel 5:6-10).

- During this time, Jerusalem was at war and in chaos after the death of Saul, Jonathon, and their family!

- God raised up a man after His heart named David to bring peace and order!

- How? God broke the weapons of those set against Him and His people.

This section closes with Selah!

- When we see the word selah in a psalm or in Habakkuk 3, we should pause to reflect (carefully weigh) the meaning of what we have just read or heard, lifting up our hearts in praise to God for His great truths.

Here are five simple, but life changing actions we need to take to experience God's revealed presence in worship:

- Anticipate God's revealed presence in worship. Expect him. Long for him.

- Look for God's hand at work in worship.

- Listen for God's voice.

- Open yourself up to new manifestations of God's presence.

- Be sensitive to the leadership of God's Spirit.

· What does God need to renew in you?

· In your relationship with God, how have you lost sight of the source?

· What are some ways you can become better connected to God?