Thursday, January 9, 2020

Honor the Lord

[1] 
Thursday, January 9, 2020

Honor the Lord, you heavenly beings; honor the Lord for his glory and strength.  Honor the Lord for the glory of his name.  Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.  The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea.  The God of glory thunders.  The Lord thunders over the mighty sea.  The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.  The voice of the Lord splits the mighty cedars; the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon.  He makes Lebanon’s mountains skip like a calf; he makes Mount Hermon leap like a young wild ox.  The voice of the Lord strikes with bolts of lightning.  The voice of the Lord makes the barren wilderness quake; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.  The voice of the Lord twists mighty oaks and strips the forests bare.  In his Temple everyone shouts, “Glory!”  The Lord rules over the floodwaters.  The Lord reigns as king forever.  The Lord gives his people strength.  The Lord blesses them with peace.                          Psalm 29:1-11

The old story has it that the elderly woman is walking out of church after worship and says to the pastor, I hope you didn’t take it personally, Reverend, when my husband walked out during your sermon.
The preacher replied, I did find it rather disconcerting.
It’s not a reflection on you, sir, insisted the church goer.
Arthur has been walking in his sleep ever since he was a child.
If you Google the phrase sleeping in church, you’ll come up with 69.3 million web hits…most of them either funny, and/or referring to the lukewarm sleepy church in Laodicea. 
However, there is nothing humorous about being disrespectful to the Lord.  This Psalm has 11 verses with a total of 20 references to God or LORD as relates to His majestic power, beneficent kindness, or sovereign control of the universe.  There is nothing about God that suggests we ought to be bored in His presence.
I have seen my share of boredom in churches.  Some of it is age or attention-span related, or getting too close to the nap hour, or medication, or simply having stayed out too late on Saturday night.  Truth be told, though, I would have gone to sleep during some of my sermons.  However, that is on the preacher, and should never be used as an excuse for a child of God to let others’ failings become their downfall when it comes to honoring the Lord.
I’ve been in a lot of churches over the years and listened to a lot of sermons; more than a few could’ve used a little more preparation by the parson.  But I’ve never come away from a worship service without a sense of having been in the presence of the holy.  And I believe that’s because I was seeking His presence when I went there.  King David advised his son to treat his relationship with God that way:

“And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.                 1 Chronicles 28:9

For You Today
Worship – for the life of your soul is as important as breathing – for the life of your body.  Fighting through boredom when it tries to dismember your spiritual life is as much Kingdom warfare as any prayer you’ve ever lifted.  And the stakes are high; don’t let Satan laugh over the joke you become when you’re sleeping on the worship job.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image:  Slideshare.com      Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

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