Worshiping The Giver…or the gifts?
Psalm 105:1-5:
“Give praise to the Lord,
proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
4 Look to the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.
5 Remember
the wonders he has done,
his miracles,
and the judgments he pronounced…”
What a Psalm!
The rest of the Psalm goes on to do just that:
to remember some of the mighty miracles the LORD did for His people.
So important for us to remember as well!!!
But it’s easy to read Psalm 105 & not focus on the LORD & what He’s done
but instead on what He can/will do for me (“God’s gonna bless me like that!”).
It’s not wrong to ask for earthly blessings from the LORD,
but without realizing it we can often worship self while praising God:
2 Kings 17:41:
“ Even while these people were worshiping the Lord,
they were serving their idols.”
Wow. How sobering that is…
It’s easy to come to church only for what we want to get out of it,
to come to God only for what we want Him to give us.
But seeing God as “The Most Amazing Vending Machine Ever!”
isnt actually worship…
its self-idolatry.
A vending machine’s job is to
satisfy customers and
give them what they want/when they want it–
the customer is in control of the vending machine.
Is that what we are expecting of the LORD?
Is that why we are praising Him?
Who controls who?
Would we still praise Him
if He told us
that He wouldn’t deliver us
from our current trial?
(e.g. like Christ said to Paul about the thorn in Paul’s flesh? 2 Corinthians 12:6-10)
No matter what we are going through today,
may the LORD help us not to focus mostly on
“what He has for me tomorrow” (gifts)
but instead to focus on
“Who He has for me today”—Himself (The Giver).
Though it is understandable if we don’t want
the LORD to transport us
through what Job suffered,
may God transform us
into who Job became:
“At this [the death of all ten of his children at one time],
Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head.
Then he fell to the ground in worship
21 and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.”
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing”
(Job 1:20-22).
