Connecting to God through Worship

“Rise up, . . . and go, worship the LORD” Exodus 12:31

The cry of God to Pharaoh was “Let my People Go”. He would not let God’s people go worship, so God had to convince him. Only after 10 confrontations was Israel allowed freedom to go worship. We too must confront whatever taskmaster keeps us from worshiping God; things like apathy or “lukewarm-ness”.

Praise causes dry times to end, refreshing to come, and our path to open. In Numbers 20 Edom refused to let the people of Israel pass by. Again in Numbers 21 Israel got to a place where they couldn’t move forward. They were thirsty, without water just like we are at times. But God commanded that Moses do one thing: Gather Israel to sing! “Assemble the people, that I may give them water.” Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Sing to it!”

A person who will stop and praise will always advance. When we praise even if we don’t feel like it, God will refresh us, and we’ll be able to advance. Habbakuk said: “Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines,…Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.”

The Bible exhorts us to worship with nonverbal communication. In fact the Hebrew words for “worship” are actually words for body posture. A large percentage of our communication is non-verbal. We are exhorted in Psalm 134:2, “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD”. Psalm 47:1 says, “Clap your hands, all you people; shout to God with cries of joy.” Psalm 33 says, “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.” Psalm 95 tells us, “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.” We are even told in Psalms 149, “Let them praise his name with dancing.”

Prayer: Father I want to confront anything that keeps me from freely worshiping you.