Worthy of Worship

You know that feeling when you leave church on Sunday morning and your soul feels so full?...the joy you feel that everything is right again in the world (even though you know it's really not) and all your troubles seem miles away? Have you ever wondered why on Monday morning (or for some, after pulling out of the church parking lot) that joy and fullness seems to fade? Personally, I have.  

As I was continuing through my Bible study in Genesis chapter 12-14 this morning, I noticed something of great importance. Typically when we hear lessons on Genesis chapter 12 and 13, we hear and learn about the call of Abraham and the vast faithfulness that Abraham had in God (along with the mistakes he made and unfaithful acts such as lying about Sarai being his sister); however, in looking deeper God revealed to me something much deeper (along with a major key to Abraham's strong faith in God and his closeness with the Lord, which is much like the feeling we, or at least I, experience after leaving worship service on Sunday morning.)

 

Genesis chapter 12 and 13 (NKJV):

Now the Lord had said to Abram:

"Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
² I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

⁴ So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵ Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. ⁶ Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh.^[a] And the Canaanites were then in the land.

⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land."And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. ⁹ So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.^[b]

¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹ And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. ¹² Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³ Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.”

¹⁴ So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. ¹⁵ The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸ And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She Is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” ²⁰ So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.

13 Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South.^{[d] 2} Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. ³ And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord.

⁵ Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶ Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. ⁷ And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land.

⁸ So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. ⁹ Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”

¹⁰ And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. ¹¹ Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. ¹² Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. ¹³ But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.

¹⁴ And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; ¹⁵ for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants^[e] forever. ¹⁶And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. ¹⁷ Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”

¹⁸ Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre,^[f] which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord."

Notice how often Abraham worshiped and called upon the name of the Lord?

What God revealed to me is that for God to draw near to us, we must draw near to Him and purify our hearts (James 4:8). Maybe the reason why the feeling of fulfillment leaves us so quickly after Sunday morning is because we forget that our worship to the Lord is not supposed to begin and end on Sunday but should continue on throughout our work week in prayer, worship, and Bible study.

Let us model after Abraham not only seeking to be faithful in our deeds (along with learning from his mistakes) but faithful in our worship too! For when our prayer and worship life increase, we are able to walk fully in His Spirit, laying off the weight of sin, and dwelling with a constant experience of God drawing near to us as we draw near to Him, just as well feel on Sunday morning.

It IS possible to experience the fullness and the prescence of the Lord all week long...

Worship Because He is Worthy!

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