Why should we guard our steps when approaching God? Isn’t He our Father? This devotion discusses the attitude that we should exhibit when coming into His presence in His house – and at other times.
Nuggets
- We have to acknowledge God is the One true God.
- God really wants us to use the time of worship to focus on Him.
- If we diligently meet God in His house and listen to what He has to tell us, we will escape from doing evil.
I love Natalie Grant’s song King of the World. It has a line in it about bringing God down to our level so that we can see eye to eye with Him.
We do that sometimes, don’t we? We don’t approach God as if He is sitting on His throne (but, you know, that is where He is). We try to shove God into our box, instead.
Scripture does tell us how we are supposed to approach God. Let’s take a look.
Let's Put It into Context
It is thought that King Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. If that is the case, it seems logical that Solomon would include a couple of verses regarding how to behave in church.
Remember, Solomon build the temple. David wanted to, but God told him no. Instead, David collected a bunch of materials so that Solomon could actually build the temple. Prior to this, the Israelites worshiped in a tent called the tabernacle.
So, what advice did Solomon give his people?
Watch Your Step
“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; …” (Ecc. 5: 1 RSV)
Solomon first said that we must watch our attitude and motivation for attending church. We are to approach Him in worship.
What are the elements of worship? Benson says the elements of true worship are “reverence, humility, resignation, meekness, faith, and love.”
We have to acknowledge God is the One true God. When we do that, we realize His greatness and our weakness. That allows us to approach Him in humility.
We have to give up the importance of ourselves and focus our attention on God and his priorities for our lives. We do that through our faith in and love for Him. We do this by submitting to His will.
What all that tells me is that we have to approach God with sincere worship. We have to come to him reverently. We have to approach God in His place of honor.
No, I don’t think this means we can only approach God talking in the King James Version. I think we can approach him being ourselves.
I don’t think this is talking about the words we use. It is talking about the attitude that we use. We have to approach God as He is on His throne.
We can’t approach God doubting His love for us. We have to be letting Him call the shots and believing He will provide for us.
Another way we should not approach him is through negotiation. The if-you-will-do-this-than-I’ll-do-this prayer is not what God is looking for.
God wants us to be obedient to him because He is our loving Father, not for what He can do for us. He wants our heart, not our word.
Listen Now
“… to draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools; …” (Ecc. 5: 1 RSV)
When I first started putting devotions on the website, I had a devotion I entitled a Praise Him. It was about the distracted worshiper.
God really wants us to use the time of worship to focus on Him. This is when we can grow our relationship with Him. No, it doesn’t replace one-on-one, alone time with Him, but this is important, too.
God is going to talk to us — if we let Him. I love the phrasing in this section of the verse: “… to draw near to listen …” (Ecc. 5: 1 RSV). God’s talking to us takes activity on our part — preparation and focus.
We have to come with the expectation that God will meet us there. Yes, God can talk with us in unexpected moments. But when we go to a worship service to truly worship him, we should expect Him to respond to us.
The “… better than to offer the sacrifice of fools …” (Ecc. 5: 1 RSV) part is interesting, too. Remember, being a living sacrifice is job duty #1.
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
Job Duty #1
Be a Living Sacrifice (Romans 12: 1-2)
How can we offer the sacrifice of fools? That would be our thinking we can please God with our sacrifices without truly worshiping Him and seeking to obediently follow Him. It would be doing something, and then puffing ourselves up because we did it for God.
Remember, this verse calls us to listen, not talk. We aren’t to elevate our own importance. We are to elevate God’s importance.
Doing Evil
“… for they do not know that they are doing evil” (Ecc. 5: 1 RSV)
If we diligently meet God in His house and listen to what He has to tell us, we will escape from doing evil.
Unfortunately, sometimes we don’t come to God’s house for the right reasons. Ezekiel 33: 31 says, “So my people come pretending to be sincere and sit before you. They listen to your words, but they have no intention of doing what you say. Their mouths are full of lustful words, and their hearts seek only after money” (NLT).
Isaiah 29: 13 says, “The Lord said, ‘These people claim to worship me, but their words are meaningless, and their hearts are somewhere else. Their religion is nothing but human rules and traditions, which they have simply memorized’” (GNT).
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
It is important that we approach God in the right ways. This will strengthen our relationship with Him and help us make sure we stay on the correct path.
Making the Connections
Several commentaries I read said variations of the same thing – listen to God instead of doing all the talking. I think that is applicable whenever we approach God — not just in His house.
But it was also more than that. Don’t be a broken record. Don’t say the same things over and over again.
Ooo, baby. Does that mean don’t fall into the ritual of something?
The first thing that popped into my mind was praying through my prayer list. When you have a list, isn’t it easy to want to just check things off that you have remembered to pray for that item? It is easy — especially for items that have been on the list for a significant period of time — we just chug right through.
But then don’t we get stuck in the rut, saying the same things over and over again because we want this person healed, or that person to get a job, or financial stability for someone else.
Jesus warned us about that. “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words” (Mt. 6: 7 NASB).
Remember what came right after this? The Lord’s Prayer. It is a good model — nice and succinct.
But how many times do we make saying that prayer a ritual?
How Do We Apply This?
- We have to make sure our attitude is correct when we approach God.
- We have to consistently seek him out in the house of worship.
- We have to reverently approach His throne.
- We have to listen more than talk.
God wants the communication with us. He wants the contact. He wants to build our relationship.
Check out your prayer list. How much of it falls under the acknowledgment, thanksgiving, and confession sections and how much falls under the supplication section? What can you do to increase the ACT section and decrease the S section?
God is our Father, but He is also Sovereign God and deserves our honor and reverence. We need to approach Him as such.
Sovereign God. We come to You with humble hearts. We know You are Sovereign God and want to give You all the reverence due You. Show us the way You want us to approach You. Help us to grow our relationship with You. Amen.
What do you think?
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You are absolutely right! God deserves our respect and reverence. Also, to sit and “listen” to God in our prayer closet is a hard discipline to obtain, but it’s so necessary if we are to strengthen our relationship with Him. Thanks so much for this!
Summer, oh, I love how you said discipline. That is going to be my word for next year. It is hard to discipline ourselves when we are pulled in so many different directions. Thanks for the comment. Elaine
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