Good morning. It is a day of blessing, a day of worship, a day given to the Lord!
As we consider worship today, I would like to have us consider a moment of worship from the history of God’s people in the Old Testament. We know that the Israelites became a “proud and stiff-necked (stubborn)” people. They had abandoned the way of the Lord and followed after the ways of the unholy people who surrounded them in the promised land. God’s people divided amongst themselves into Northern (Israel) and Southern (Judah) kingdoms. First Israel, but eventually Judah as well, set aside the Law of Moses, and refused to worship the God of creation. They became increasingly evil in the sight of the Lord, and He sent prophets like Isaiah to tell them what the consequences of such actions would be. They refused to listen, and those consequences became a reality as the Lord sent Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians to take them captive and to destroy the city of Jerusalem and the temple of the Lord.
God did this because He loved them. In His great love, our Father God knew that only when there was a crisis from which there was no escape would His people return to Him. As the people were enslaved in Babylon, God allowed 2 generations to pass by but when they were ready, God set about sending His people, those who had returned their hearts to Him, home.
We read Ezra and Nehemia to learn the details of the return of God’s people and of their rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem, and ultimately the rebuilding of the temple.
It took time and great effort, but eventually the day came for God’s people to worship Him. We read this from Nehemiah 9: On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. 2 Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. 3 They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God. 4 Standing on the stairs of the Levites were Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Kenani. They cried out with loud voices to the Lord their God. 5 And the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah—said: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.”
“Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. 6 You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
They had prepared for this moment with extended reading from God’s Word. As the Word of God was read, Nehemiah 8:6 tells us, and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
The reason I bring these passages from the Word to our attention today is to note the spirit of worship in God’s people in those moments, and how their hearts had been prepared for worship.
They worshipped within the glory of God’s Word. Their ancestors had left the Word behind and had drawn away from God. They now embraced the Word. They gloried in it. They did not take the Word of God for granted but exalted in its truth.
They approached worship with a sense of mourning. This was due to their acknowledgement of the sinful ways that carried God’s people away from His arms.
They came to worship unburdened. They confessed their personal sins and prayed to God for forgiveness. In that way they were made free to worship, having confessed their sins and trusting in the love of their heavenly Father.
They worshipped. With great power, joy, and fervent desire they came into God’s presence in worship.
May our worship today be unhindered, unbridled, uninhibited, and unleashed!
Vern