Subject: TRUE HEART OF WORSHIP |
Bible Note: Psalms 51: 1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. 4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. 6 Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. 7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice. 9 Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise. 16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. 18 By Your favor do good to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, In burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar. Dear Azure, Adding to the discussion of worship, I see from David’s prayer the relationship he had with the Lord. In looking for what the Lord desires of us I see from verse 6 the Lord desires truth. I believe from this we can say that we can hide nothing from God. If we are not truthful with God and ourselves, facing our sins, bringing them to the Lord to cleanse us there is no worship for us. Only when we deal with our sins does true worship begin. We can go through the motions giving an outward appearance of worship; example, praying, singing, preaching, but if the heart is not right with God, He is not pleased, see verse 16. When the heart is right, verse 17, then the outward worship; i.e., praying, singing, preaching is pleasing to Him, verse 19. In regards to the worship in heaven, we know that we will be in our glorified bodies. There is no sin in heaven. Worship is something we do everyday of our lives. Every hour, every minute we are either pleasing to God and honoring Him with the sacrifice of our lives or we are displeasing to Him and need to bring those sins to Him to cleanse us. True believers are led by the Holy Spirit who brings these things to mind as we walk in the Spirit. Those who have yet to surrender their lives to Christ, the Holy Spirit convicts them of sin. They have an opportunity to surrender their lives to Him. If they continue in their unbelief there is no worship for them. They may go through the externals but the internal, the heart, that part which God desires, if it is not pleasing to God, all externals will not be pleasing. These are my thoughts. Thank you for your warm blessing, Azure. May our Lord richly bless you today and in the coming year. – Sister Val |