Worship as a Spiritual Discipline
Devotional Reading: He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” Exodus 3:12 ESV
When we experience the glory of God and the presence of Jesus, we can’t help but physically respond. And even in those moments when we don’t feel His presence and thus don’t want to worship, this is where the discipline of worship is especially handy. We join in the singing or kneel in surrender or bow in reverence because worship realigns us. We posture ourselves in accordance with what is true whether we feel it or not: God is our loving and sovereign Creator, and we are His creatures.
Near the end of Genesis, a famine prompted the patriarch Jacob, his sons, and their families to leave the land of Canaan and move to Egypt. By God’s providence, Jacob’s son, Joseph, had already been living in Egypt for many years and was second in command under Pharaoh, so he was able to provide food and land for his brothers and their families. Jacob’s extended family continued to grow over many generations into what would eventually become the nation of Israel. However, as they grew, so did Egypt’s oppressive rule. The people of God were no longer free to do what God had created them to do.
The Hebrew word for worship in Exodus 3:12 is ‘ābad, and it means to work or to serve. Your Bible translation may even use the word serve instead of worship here. The word also carries the idea of working for the Lord in the context of a religious service in the spirit of joyful liberation. Simply put, ‘ābad is the kind of worship that is service and ministry-oriented.
The phrase “Let my people go, so they may worship me” is a theme of Exodus, found in 7:16; 8:20; 9:1; 9:13; 10:26.
Throughout the Old Testament, we find that one of the ways the people worshiped God was through active participation. They did certain things that brought Him delight. Much of this worship consisted in walking out the Law of Moses, keeping the feasts, going to the temple, offering sacrifices and tithes, and not turning away from Him to false gods.
In the New Testament, Jesus stated that true worship now is in Spirit and Truth. And in Romans 12, Paul asserts that our spiritual act of worship is to present ourselves as living sacrifice. This implies that from both the Old and New Testaments, worship involves sacrifice and this involves our actions.
Today, make worshiping God not just through your lips, but also try to worship Him in living and in your service to Him.
Prayer and Confession
Thank you Jesus for the privilege of worship. Help me to worship you more often through my actions. Amen!
Further Reading: John 4:24-25, Philippians 3:3
