Made For Worship
The first movie that my wife ever saw was: The Sound of Music. It is her favorite to date and most of the songs in the film, she has memorized. When we are out on a walk in the hills around our home, so often she breaks out singing: “The hills are alive, with the sound of music…” Does the beauty of nature move you to sing as well?
The Psalmist was moved to worship, just by observing the majesty and beauty in creation. In Psalms 8, David contemplates nature and man’s place in it, and all he can say is: “How majestic is your name in all the earth.” Even though the heavens and the earth are so wonderful and awe inspiring, he was not moved to worship them, but to worship the Creator.
All of creation was made for worship. Isaiah says that the mountains and hills sing and the trees clap their hands, (Is. 55:12). In Psalms 98, we read that the rivers also clap their hands and the sea roars. When Jesus was entering into Jerusalem, the crowds were praising Him. The religious leaders wanted Jesus to stop them, but Jesus responded that if they didn’t praise Him, the rocks would cry out in worship. Praising the Lord is integral to all of creation.
Have you ever noticed how quickly a newborn baby moves to music? They bob their head, move their bodies to the beat of the music and within a few months they are clapping. The reason is that life comes from God. He breathed into man His Life and man became a living soul. Every inanimate part of creation is like an instrument and every living thing is as a musician. Man is the conductor and lead singer designed to bring melody and harmony in worship before the Father.
Those who are filled with the Spirit of God naturally make melody in their hearts to the Lord. No one needs to tell them to do so, it just comes naturally. Those who do not know the Lord use music to enhance debauchery, rebellion and carnality. Their nature is expressed through their music. It is the worship of creation rather than the Creator and you can’t do both.
When the Church gathers together, it is to worship God. There is the singing of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs; all to lift up and glorify the Name of Jesus, our Lord. In worship, we experience Heaven on earth. We are able to touch Eternity. So let us do what the last verse of the last Psalms, says: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”
Scriptures to meditate on:
Psalms 150; 8; 47:1; 98:8; Is. 55:12; John 4:24; Ephesians 5:18-19