What is worship?
In our modern culture, worship is often associated with music and emotion. It's that thing you do before the pastor gets up to give the sermon. If that's your idea of worship, then it does seem easy to dismiss it as extra. But I think it goes much deeper than that.
I looked up the word "worship" in Scripture, and found that most of the time worship occurs at the Temple. At first, I couldn't see how this could help me understand worship. Israel offered sacrifices at the Temple--we can't offer sacrifices today. How do I worship without a sacrifice?
Take it back to the Hebrew though, and things become a bit clearer. The Hebrew word for sacrifice literally means to "draw near." The Temple was not built for sacrifices--the sacrifices were offered so that one could draw near to God at the Temple. Worship is drawing near to God.
How do we draw near to God? Well, if we look at the Temple again, I see four things: sacrifice, prayer, music, and awe. Sacrifice is pretty self-explanatory. The incense altar is closely tied to prayer and the daily prayers are recited at the times of the morning and evening offerings. Many of the Levites who served in the Temple served as singers and musicians. And awe--that's what happens when you see fire come down from heaven to consume your sacrifice.
Enough of the technical stuff (I love tying things to pictures and Hebrew words, but we mustn't lose sight of the forest for the trees). I've been learning lately how important it is to take some time just to worship God. This can be through music. I've made myself a playlist of songs that I can honestly sing with and that remind me who God is. It can be through prayer. Reciting the daily prayers from your heart can be an awesome form of worship. It can even be something as simple as taking a walk and standing in awe of God's glory.
How do you worship? How do you draw near to our Creator?
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