Good morning. This is the day of worship! Let us all praise God with glad and joyful hearts!
But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way.” John 4:23 These are the words of Jesus to the Samaritan woman.
Some of the most remarkable beauty of worship occurs in community with other like-minded believers. There is a depth and strength that comes when believers join together in worship, much like the Israelites did around Jericho and like Paul and Silas did in prison. This last example of worship has always intrigued me. I don’t think that there is any doubt that when they worshipped the Lord in that dark place with their feet locked into stocks it was worship in “spirit and in truth.” This is the context that details how they arrived at their place of worship that night: The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. Acts 16:22-24
Their bodies were bruised and bleeding. Their only crime was in rescuing a young woman from demonic influence. Their place was dark, damp, and filled with a horrible stench. Their feet were locked into stocks. Obviously, the first thing that would come to their mind is “Gee, what a great opportunity to worship the Lord!” I say that with sarcasm, because one would think that worship would be the very last thing on their minds. But the next verse tells us: About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. They were worshipping God in the midst of their pain! We are also told that this worship was not going unnoticed because all the other prisoners were listening in. What a testimony!
God intervened with an earthquake that broke open the doors and loosed the chains of every prisoner. The jailer woke up and felt the need to take his own life because what the Romans would do to him for letting his prisoners escape (no excuses were acceptable) would be far worse. Paul yells at him to wait and tells him that they are all still there, none have taken the opportunity to escape. Not Paul, or Silas, or any of the other prisoners. Regarding those other prisoners we can only assume that worship had already changed them. The jailer and his family came to the Lord that night and the worship continued, much more grand and complete now that they were all singing and celebrating in spirit and in truth.
Consider your place of worship today. Consider the Lord’s presence with you. Consider what it means to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Worship well!
Vern