Page 38 - Job

WHAT IS WORSHIP?
One thing that is lacking among God’s people today, more than any other
single thing, I think, is worship. God’s people do not know how to
worship. Here is what most people think worship is. When they praise
God for what He has done. They think that is worship. “God died for me
on the cross. Praise His Holy Name. He shed His blood for me”. Or else
they will get up and give a testimony and it can range from anything, like,
God guided me, God used me, God delivered me, God helped me, God
sustained me, God chastened me, God taught me, God showed me in His
Word. Blessed be God! Look what He has done for me. Is that worship?
You see, that is a part of worship, but a very small part of worship. That
praise, that thanksgiving. There is a place for that. But that is subjective. It
is subjective to the core. That is what God has done for me. He leads me;
He guides me; He helps me; He delivers me; He opens the Word to me;
He saved me. Praise His name. Look what He did for me. Me, me, me,
me, me, and more me.

Worship, true worship, Bible worship, is praising God for Himself, apart
from my experience. If He never provides for you again, is He still the
provider? Yes or no? Sure He is. He needs to be praised because He is the
provider. I do not care if you ever get provided for or not. He needs to be
worshiped because He is the provider. If He never guides, if He never
delivers, if He never answers your prayer or helps you: He is still the
Guide, the Deliverer, the Prayer Answerer, and the One who sustains and
keeps all things. All by Himself. Everything He continues to be apart from
our experience.
Real worship praises God for Himself. Isn’t that the nature of the enemy’s
original accusation? Satan was saying, “God, You are not wonderful
enough, by Yourself, for anybody to serve You. You have to be giving
gifts all the time or they would never come to You. They would never
trust in You because You do not have what it takes. Just You by Yourself.
You are not lovely enough”.

You see even the best Christians in the world, those who have hungered
the most after the Lord, know only a tiny bit about God. You cannot even
begin to understand how minuscule your experience has been. Because
God is infinite! We can only touch an infinitesimal portion of Him. We
can only scratch the surface. And most people’s worship is based, not on
the revelation of God, but on their experience of God. And what a flimsy
worship it is because we have experienced so little. Our praise is sad and
pitiful, if it is only limited to what we rely on our senses to show us.

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