I had to pause when I just read, ”Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped.”  (Job 1:20).  I couldn´t help comparing his kind worship with our modern concept of worship in the western churches, the American not the least.

Oftentimes “worship” is not worship at all.  Sad to say, only very few are honest about it.  Some have admitted to me, though, that their “traditional” and “contemporary” worship is just a means of making the church more attractive to the young people.  That´s honest talk, but then don´t use that word.  Find a better one. A more “contemporary” one!

I looked up in my old “Strong´s concordance” to check the meaning of the word worship.  It suggested the thought of “bowing (self) down”, - “ to fall down flatly”, - “to do obeisance”.  Well, that´s what Job did, not as an outburst of exuberant enthusiasm, but in the dust before the Lord full of unspeakable suffering.

Does that surprise you?  It shouldn´t.  Haven´t you been at that place yourself?  Haven´t you had moments where you said, “Lord, this really hurts, but it hurts you too and I worship you!”  Aren´t you familiar with suffering Christians?  Or do you prefer to mingle with those who crack jokes all the time?  If so, you little know “the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”. 

Haven´t you heard their cries of pains and their humble submission to the will of God?  If so, you have met true worshippers.   Worshippers without a cheerful platform.  Maybe their platform was but a tossing and turning on a lonely bed of pain.  Do I know what I´m talking about?  Yes, I do.  I´m in close touch with some of them.  Even in America.

They would say like Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15), for this is the language of true worship.   So, my friend, beware of modern counterfeits!

In my childhood as a believer I was taught that you often get the true meaning of a truth when it´s mentioned the very first time in your Bible.  Worship is mentioned the first time in Gen. 22:5, “The lad and I will go yonder and worship.”  How was Abraham´s state of soul when he said that?  Extremely painful!  But he was nevertheless in a state of worship!

Think about it next time you talk about “worship”!

-jn-

August 21, 2010