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Ministry Monday: Getting Something Out of Worship

This is a portion of something I shared with the teens recently.

You still have stuff to learn. So do I.

Have you had those conversations with your parents where everything seems fine and then, out of nowhere, you’re in the middle of a lecture? You know, you’re all laughing, perhaps playing a game, when the conversation takes a turn. Maybe you’re all laughing and having a good time when your dad says, ‘See, why can’t you always be like this? You’ve had a bad attitude lately and I want you to respect your mother!’

Well, that is a little bit like what this songwriter does here in Psalm 95.

“Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice,” ~Psalm 95:6–7

We often use Psalm 95:6-7 as a call to worship. It’s even got a song that we’ve sung. But watch what happens when we continue through verse 8-11.

If only you would listen to his voice today!
The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah,
as they did at Massah in the wilderness.
For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience,
even though they saw everything I did.
For forty years I was angry with them, and I said,
‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me.
They refuse to do what I tell them.’
So in my anger I took an oath:
‘They will never enter my place of rest.’” – Psalm 95:8-11

Did you see it? It's kind of like;

Come let us worship and bow down….now stop being a dirty little sinner!

I believe God wants us to be humble as we worship. The person who thinks they have arrived will not get anything out of worship. So go ahead and make this personal. What did you get out of your most recent time of worship?
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