Worship in the face of other gods

-


Scripture:

Psa. 138:1     I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart;
        before the gods I sing your praise;
Psa. 138:2     I bow down toward your holy temple
        and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness;
        for you have exalted your name and your word
        above everything.
Psa. 138:3     On the day I called, you answered me,
        you increased my strength of soul.

Observation:

There is something bold about this proclamation.  The Psalmist is speaking of worshiping the LORD right in front of other gods.  There is a boldness in his statements -- and you sense an overwhelming desire to worship the LORD in spite of the fact that other gods are present.  Ongoing praise and worship of the LORD in the way prescribed by God will be the theme of the day, and God responds to the faithfulness, providing strength to persevere. 

Application:

There are other idols or gods surrounding us every single day of our lives and they are screaming at us -- and demanding our attention.    Some of them look pretty good.  They include the gods of work and play, family and relationships.  They surround us daily and want to draw us away from the things of our LORD.  They are all good, great and wonderful but when they take first place in our lives they become a distraction to the true worship of God. 

True worship of God means that God remains in first place in our lives.  There will be no other gods before God!  "Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one."  This is the instruction for the people of God and we are called to be faithful to the Lord our God even in the face of other gods who are demanding our attention.

Just like the Psalmist -- we must stand up in boldness and sing praises to the LORD.  He must be the priority of our lives and the rest of the gods must recognize that the LORD is one!  In this Psalm we also find a dedication to temple worship in the face of other gods.  Could it be that we could also learn from this the importance of regular worship -- regular attendance at the house of God?  The other gods are encroaching on our time in regular church attendance these days and we are making many excuses.  If we are to be faithful to the LORD -- then we must also engage in our regular worship of him.  If not, then the little gods are winning the day and ultimately we are the ones who will lose out.

In times of distress -- we wonder about God's presence.  Where is he?  Why doesn't he answer?  But for the one who continues to worship the LORD in the face of many gods, we can join with the Psalmist and declare, "On the day I called, you answered me, you increased the strength of my soul." 

What will we do in light of all the other gods clamoring for our attention today?

Prayer:

Lord, please help me to praise and worship you with all my being.  Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Off Your Ornaments

-
Scripture: Ex. 33:4 ¶ When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. Ex. 33:5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.’” Ex. 33:6 Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. Observation: The people had sinned before God by making and worshiping the golden calf!  They had taken their golden jewelry — the earrings and other items they had gotten from the Egyptians and used them to create an idol.  Now, in an act of humility and repentance they were to take off all of their jewelry and ornaments.  It was a time of mourning over their sin and it included intentional action on the part of the Israelites.  Application: We don’t do all that well with humility and repentance!  It seems that we live in a time when we try to carry
Read more

Does God Value Boys More than Girls?

-
Scripture: Lev. 12:1 ¶ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Lev. 12:2 Speak to the people of Israel, saying: ¶ If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. Lev. 12:3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Lev. 12:4 Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing, or come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed. Lev. 12:5 If she bears a female child, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; her time of blood purification shall be sixty-six days. Lev. 12:6 ¶ When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. Lev. 12:7 He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement on her
Read more

The Advantage of Sanctification

-
Scripture: Rom. 6:22 But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Observation: Two sides of life are presented here in great contrast.  One is a life of sin and enslavement to evil.  The other side of life is freedom which provides the advantage of sanctification (or holiness as some translate the word) that leads to eternal life.  The options here are a life of sin, slavery and death; or freedom, holiness and eternal life.  The advantage of holiness or sanctification is the benefit of the life of freedom.  Jesus died so that we might be made holy like him and this is something that is offered as a “fruit” or “advantage” right now.  The end is eternal life — but the living of life is that it can be lived out in holiness.  The next verse is really just an affirmation of the verse 22.  Sin will lead
Read more