Worship

"'Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the desert and
speak tenderly to her.
There I will give her back her vineyards
and will make the Valley of Achor (trouble) a door of hope.
There she will sing as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

'In that day,' declares the Lord, 'you will call me "my husband"
You will no longer call me "my Baal."
I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
no longer will their names be invoked."

~Hosea 2.14-17

Today Toby's sermon was on the topic of worship, focusing on confession and the true state of our hearts in worship. Toby wasn't preaching though, it was God. It was as if God was standing there using Toby to deliver a message that so many of us need to hear. I can only imagine what it would be like to be chosen by God to deliver a message to his people like that. I suppose today for the first time I saw a little bit of the struggle the prophets must have endured in the messages they carried to the people of Israel on behalf oh the Lord.

Throughout all the prophets we read of Israel's struggle to remain faithful to the God that delivered her. Each prophet cries out to the people to turn back to God and in each story Israel dances between God and the Baals. Over and over we see her turn her back on God.

It is easy as an outsider to say, "Can't Israel see how God has delivered her? Can't she understand what God has done for her?" Yet when we examine our own lives how often do we ask ourselves this same thing? "Mandy, can't you see how God has delivered you? Mandy, don't you understand what God has done in your life? Look around you Mandy, God is here! God is everywhere! How can you call on the Baals?"

When I struggle, the first place it shows up is in my worship to God. As I sing praises to God it is my personal conviction to sing with my whole heart and to listen to the words coming out of my mouth and the mouths of so many around me. Often times I am touched to tears by the statement I make, we make, as the body of Christ in the words we sing. But when I cannot sing the songs of praise, I have learned it is because I am not living to glorify God. Something in my life is not pointing to God; Satan is attacking and has gotten to my heart; I am not praising God I am worrying about me.

God has called me out of this. God has bigger plans for worship. God has bigger plans for me.

"I will allure her. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her."

I love this. When I cannot, God can. God can, and God will. God is going to allure me, you, us back to true worship. Worship for him. Worship in different key's, worship with off-beat claps, worship with instruments, worship without instruments, worship in pews, in a circle, indoors, outdoors...true, broken, pure worship.

God,

Break our hearts and convict us of our Baals. Show us again what you have done for us and how you have delivered us and may we respond in true, broken, pure worship to you.

Amen.