Sound of Heaven: A 6-Day Devotional by Danny Gokeyಮಾದರಿ

Can’t Help But Worship

How do you feel about worship? Does it feel like a chore? Maybe something you ‘have’ to do to make God happy?

In the Scriptures, there were times that people worshiped from a place of obligation. “Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary.” (Hebrews 9:1). But then there were times that people worshiped as a response to God’s remarkable presence.

While the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, “Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent.” Exodus 33:10.

Worshiping God is as natural as a husband who can’t help but be in awe of his wife’s beauty. “You are beautiful, my darling, beautiful beyond words … You have captured my heart, my treasure, my bride. You hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes, with a single jewel of your necklace. Your love delights me, my treasure, my bride.” (Song of Solomon 4:1a, 9-10a). When we truly encounter God and His wonderful ways, we will want to worship Him, too!

Isaiah 6 describes a vision he had of the Lord in heaven. “He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. Attending Him were mighty seraphim … They were calling out to each other, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with His glory!’

Why did they keep repeating themselves? I once heard a preacher say it was because they kept seeing new and different sides of God’s splendor, and they couldn’t help but proclaim His holiness. The incredible thing is that we can experience God in the same way that Isaiah and the seraphim did in heaven, right here on earth! Even though we don’t get to experience Him there like they did, God continually reveals different sides of Himself in His Word and in the world around us every day, through both the miraculous and the mundane.

“By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.” (Hebrews 10:20), and we now have access to worship God directly. Isaiah’s vision is such a compelling example of what our response should be when we encounter God. “Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping Him with holy fear and awe.” (Hebrews 12:28). But if worship feels forced for you, ask God to open the eyes of your heart to truly see Him, like it says in Ephesians 1:18-19a. “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.”

And as He answers, and you truly see His “wisdom & wonder, glory, & goodness, beauty & brilliance,” you will find that you can’t help but worship, either!