What Is Worship?

 

 

First time seen in the Word

At Genesis 22:5,

Go there now and read

And see how it comes alive!

 

Just two human beings:

A father and his son

Having traveled a great way,

To worship they have come.

 

“Stay here,”

He had said to the party,

No one was to stop his worship

To his God the Almighty.

 

Is worship singing?

There was no singing there,

No singing and no music

Just reverential fear.

 

The epitome of worship

It can’t get better than this,

A father, his offering and God

Just three on this list.

 

No clapping, no shouting,

No keyboard or drumming,

No clarinets or saxophones,

No guitarists strumming.

 

 

A pile of rocks and wood

Prepared for the sacrifice

Of his son, his only son, Isaac-

This could not be nice.

 

His only son?

Did he not have another?

The son he ultimately loved?

Lord, this is a bother.

 

Why not Ishmael?

Ishmael was his son also,

Isaac was the son God wanted

The best must be on show.

 

Worship is giving up

All that we hold dear,

Nothing between us and Jesus:

No fret, no gift, no care.

 

 

Holding everything loosely

As Corrie ten Boom did say,

Worship is one and Jesus

Just the two at play.

 

Personal before corporate

Abraham offered his son,

Not a single petition was made,

Absolutely none!

 

While God stayed his hand

The act was as good as done,

Obedience was the heart of worship

God’s favour he had won.

 

One could just imagine

The burden that was lifted

In this precursor of Jesus Christ

To whom all was shifted.

 

 

The Lamb identified by John

To take away our sin,

God’s Son, God’s only Son!

Yes, we must worship him.

 

“When,” somebody asked,

“Did worship become singing?”

Worship is one’s walk with Christ

Expressed in one’s daily living.

 

A life of total surrender.

A life of childlike trust,

A life holding all things loosely

With Jesus as the must.

 

Must have Jesus

Must live by his word,

Must shine for him in word and deed

Must show him to the world.

 

Worship is not singing,

It is a given over heart

Consecrated to God our Saviour

Who loved us from the start.

 

 

A slaying of self as it were,

A putting off and a putting on,

No more the long night of darkness,

Step into the light of dawn!

 

Worship is walking in the light

In the light that is Christ,

In constant obedience to him

As a living sacrifice.

 

Stewart Russell © May 6, 2024