If you’ve ever seen Antiques Roadshow on TV, you will know the big moment in the programme when people discover their discarded possessions, (like an old vase they’ve kept in a loft at home), turn out to be of extreme value. This is usually accompanied with relief that the item has not been lost or damaged beyond repair.
How useful it is to know the true value of things!
This article is about the value of preparing reverently for worship.
There are signs across the Scriptures on the importance of preparing for worship. In Exodus 40, for example, Aaron and his sons are instructed to wash using the bronze basin in the Tabernacle before they approach the altar or entered the Tent of Meeting1. The Lord’s presence among His people was to be reverenced through obedience to the many physical and spiritual instructions laid out from Exodus through to Deuteronomy.
Reverence for who God is crucial to how we approach the Lord. The One who is looking for those who worship Him in spirit (with all we are) and in truth (for all He is)2.
Jesus also taught about preparations for worship. He taught that if believers knew their brother held something against them, they were to go first and reconcile with their brother before bringing their offering to God3.
What about today?
The adverts and culture of the West sometimes encourages people to mock others, (demeaning those from different racial backgrounds, the elderly, men, women, parents, those in authority, to name a few). There is the use of sacred phrases or music, which should be reserved for praising God, used instead to sell cars or make up.
In churches, the concern to appeal to newcomers, (which is good in itself),may incline to a culture of joking through many parts of the service. But real joy comes from a service which helps us know God and his living message in our lives. Humour is welcome at times, but how sad it is when a church aims first to be entertaining, rather than the place to have the life-giving experience of truly meeting the Lord.
Why does reverence matter?
For anyone doing a read the Bible in a year plan, some parts of Numbers can seem daunting. Numbers chapter 7 lists the twelve tribes of Israel bringing their offerings for the dedication of the altar to the Lord. The long and identical list of offerings is repeated 12 times in this one chapter. However reading on, it was after the required offerings were completed, that Moses then entered the Tent of Meeting and heard the voice of the Lord.4
Reverence comes before the radiance.
The Lord’s near presence was a sign of appropriate preparation and worship. Moses himself showed a radiant face after being close to the Lord on Mount Sinai5.
These scriptures show God provides the right ways (and through Jesus, the Way) for us to approach Him in worship, ways that are pleasing to Him.
It is an honour to stoop down…
I don’t know how often you stoop down to pick things up that have been dropped. As I get older it has to be important for me to make the effort to stoop.
How amazing that John the Baptist said, he was not worthy even to stoop to untie the sandals of the Lord Jesus6, who was to come. It’s not a coincidence that John the Baptist, full of the Holy Spirit, helped lead people to the Lord, he had such reverence for any encounter with the Lord.
Reverence to God is a great witness to Him.
What can we do as we meet to worship?
Here are some suggestions:
- Focus on seeking the Lord as you come to church, (what we look for, affects us). ‘Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame‘, (Psalm 34v5, NIV).
- Come to church with an offering of thanksgiving in our hearts7.
- After greetings, take some quiet time to focus on the Lord before the service starts. If it is a noisy room. Repeat quietly to yourself a refrain from Scripture. ‘Here I am, Lord’ or choose another appropriate verse.
- Gently, show your devotion by bowing your head and sitting in silence.
Let’s be encouraged to prepare and to be transformed more in our times of worship to the Lord.
When we earnestly seek the Lord in worship we are blessed by His glorious presence; His face shining upon us8 , that we may go out transformed, to truly love and serve Him.
Footnotes:
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