Worship That God Enjoys

Worship That God Enjoys
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. John 4:24

God is a spiritual being, so the important part of worship to God is not so much what we do physically, but what we do spiritually. 

When we sing, it is not the volume or perfection of the pitch that matters most to him. It is the sincerity, the honesty, the heartfelt thanks and admiration that he likes. It is the spiritual act of worship that he seeks. 

What should our heart be like in worship? The word worship means to bow before him. The root word is simply “dog.” It means to lick the hand like a dog. When your own dog lies at your feet, sees your hand free, and turning his head upward, licks your hand, then drops his head in a contended sigh. That is worship. 

When your heart bows before God and, so to speak, you kiss his hand, and sigh contentedly to be his child, that is worship.

Until Jesus came to earth we did not know this so clearly. It was hinted at in the Old Testament but was lost behind all the ritual. Passages such as Psalms 51:16-17, told us this:  “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Still, we often think of worship as the external motion, the formal rituals that we go through. But these can be simply vain human inventions that we enjoy. God enjoys worship in spirit and truth. 

Jesus made it clear that human traditions in worship could never substitute for a full heart. 
“So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’”
(Matt. 15:6-9).

God seeks one thing from us mostly: worship. Worship that is from our heart and spirit. Worship that is true from us, true about him, in forms that he truly desires.

Lord, you have ordained praise from me, please Father, teach me to worship you rightly! Help my heart to bow down prostrating before you in worship. Help my heart to lift up to you, exalting in you in worship. 

This is the worship that God enjoys!