Call Yourself to Worship

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Psalm 103:1

As fallen human beings, we are rarely as focused on the LORD as we ought to be. We are often disconnected, distracted, or even disinterested in the things of God. So, each Sunday our church begins our worship service with a Call to Worship... a song that is designed to fix our attention on the Lord and stir our hearts with love towards Him. In a sense, that is what Psalm 103 is. 

Notice that the psalmist is talking to himself in verse one. He calls himself to worship. He sets out to stir his own cold heart by commanding himself to praise the Lord. And notice too that the psalmist commands himself to do this not just outwardly or halfheartedly. No! He commands himself to praise God from the deepest part of himself, from his soul, with all his inmost being. This brings to mind Deuteronomy 6:5 which commands us to, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” 

I want to encourage you to praise like that. Give your all to praising God. Praise Him from your soul... with ALL that is within you. Don’t just praise Him with your lips. Don’t just go through the motions. Praise Him from your soul, with all your inmost being. Call to mind the many benefits He has given you: forgiveness, healing, redemption, deliverance, compassion, and love… and praise Him with all you’ve got.

And on those days when you don't feel like praising... stir up your cold heart and call yourself to worship.

Glory

Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.

Psalm 115:1

Too often we think of ourselves as the main character of this story we are living in. We think it’s all about us. We want to be famous. We want to be wealthy. We want to be known. That’s what many of our kids and teens aspire to be when they grow up… is famous. Some of us still want that as adults. And even if we don’t... we do want to be appreciated and honored. We want to climb the ladder and be recognized. We want glory. That's why it is so difficult to live according to the principle laid down in Psalm 115:1. You can't live for God's glory if you are living for your own.

But even if you aren’t living for your own glory, are you seeking God’s? Does this verse accurately describe how you live. Are you day-by-day praying, “Not to ME, Lord, not to ME but to your name be the glory!”

God deserves ALL the glory because of His love and faithfulness. He loved you when you didn’t deserve to be loved. He has been faithful to you when you were faithless to Him. He has done this not only for you but for every one of us over and over again. That is why He deserves ALL the credit and ALL the glory and ALL the honor and ALL the praise!

So, live in such a way that God gets all the glory from your life. Seeking His glory, not your own.

The Valley of Baka

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.

Psalm 84:5-7

Since the psalmist didn’t live in Jerusalem, he had to go on pilgrimage to be near God’s presence at the temple. Israelites were supposed to make this trip to worship three times a year. I think it’s difficult for us to really understand what it was like to have to travel by foot for days or even a week or more to Jerusalem to worship. But this was a shared experience for many Israelites. They would all travel the same roads and pass through the same places on their way up to Jerusalem to worship.

One of those places that they passed through was the valley of Baka. The word 'baka' comes from the Hebrew word for weeping or wailing. And we think that this was a dry or desert-like valley. Yet... the psalmist says that the pilgrims make it a place of springs. It’s hard to say for sure but it’s possible that the image here is of pilgrims weeping in the valley of Baka. They “make it a place of springs” because of the tears that spring forth from their eyes as they go up to Jerusalem to worship.

But if so, it’s important to note that salty tears aren’t the only source of water in this dry valley. The psalmist says that the autumn rains cover it with pools as well. This, I believe, is a picture of God providing water for His people in a dry, difficult place associated with suffering. This is a picture of God helping His people and providing for them as they travel the hard road to worship.

And what I want to point out to you today is this idea found in Psalm 84 that the road to worship can sometimes lead through a valley of tears. Mourning, weeping, and wailing can draw us nearer to God. They can, in the end, lead to worship. Because it is often in the dry, lonely, difficult places of life that God meets us and provides for our needs.

And that makes the hard roads of life, no matter how difficult they may be, precious to the believer. Even the hardest of roads can become precious to us if it leads us into God’s presence.

Maybe your own path has been painful. Maybe you have done more than your fair share of weeping. Don’t give up! The psalmist is telling you that the difficult road you are walking can lead you into God’s presence. It can lead you to worship, if you will let it. I know this has been true in my own life. My prayer for you today is that any difficult roads you must take in this life will lead you to worship in the very presence of God as well.

Yearning for God

How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Psalm 84:1–2

Have you ever been so in love with someone that just being near them is a thrill? Suddenly, the places and things connected to that person become precious to you. The house they live in or the scent of their perfume or even the clothes they wear may become precious to you simply because they belong to them. That is how the author of Psalm 84 feels about the Lord. 

Psalm 84 begins with praise for the dwelling place of God. The psalmist says that God’s dwelling place, the temple that Solomon built, is lovely. In fact, his soul yearns and even faints to enter the courts of God’s house. His heart and his flesh cry out for the living God.

Don’t miss that. The psalmist’s desire isn’t to go to church… it’s to go to the place where God is. Yes, Solomon’s temple was glorious, but what the psalmist longs for isn’t pretty buildings or beautiful ceremonies… it’s God Himself. He longs to enter into God’s presence.

During this time in the Old Testament, God’s presence was especially concentrated and located within the temple, in Jerusalem. That was the place God’s people went to meet with God, to enter His presence. And this psalmist is so in love with the Lord that he longs to enter God’s presence in that special place.

Do you? Are you this eager not to come to church and see your friends but to enter into God’s presence… to sing His praise… to bow at His feet in worship? Do you long to get up early and have a personal time of worship with Him?

You see, as modern Christians we have a privilege that this psalmist did not have. He had to travel to Jerusalem to be where God’s presence was specially focused. But we carry God with us everywhere we go. Christians have the Holy Spirit living inside us. We don’t have to go anywhere to meet with Him. All we have to do is quiet ourselves and the noise around us and seek Him. 

But do you desire Him enough to do that? Is God this precious to you? Are you this in love with Him? Do you derive this much joy from His presence? 

For most of us the sad answer is... no. Ask the Lord right now to help you love Him more. Commit, right now, to think more about how precious He is and not to take the privilege of His presence for granted. Stir your love for Him by setting aside a regular time to spend alone with Him. And don’t just read your Bible during that time, but spend a portion of it simply loving and worshiping your God.