It seems funny to say we need to be silent in worshiping God. This devotional looks at what constitutes being silent.
Nuggets
- We worship God silently by focusing our worship on Him and not on ourselves.
- We silence the ceremony and tradition of religion by focusing our worship on our relationships with Him.
- We silence our need to be filled during worship to truly worship God.
Devotions in Silencing Our Hearts at Christmastime series
One of the sermons I put in the drafts folder for the Silence of the Soul series was Duche’s God in His Temple. He had a great quote. He wrote,
“Wait and watch in awful stillness; impose silence on the clamorous calls of every earthborn passion and appetite; stand in meek ness and humility, with thine inward eye turned towards these first emanations of Divine light, and thou shalt soon perceive “the day dawn, and the day-star arise upon thy soul.” By this awful silence, and waiting upon the Lord in His temple, we place ourselves, as it were, upon hallowed ground; and if I may borrow an image from ancient superstition, a magic circle of heavenly light and lustre is drawn round us, — nor will the dark malicious enchanter, who only rules in earth and hell, dare to approach its radiant limits.”
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Let’s see how we can apply that to Christmastime.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Silencing Our Focus
“There will be silence before You, and praise in Zion, God, And the vow will be fulfilled for You” (Ps. 65: 1 NASB)
We worship God silently by focusing our worship on Him and not on ourselves.
It seems like a contradiction to say we must be silent before God yet praise Him. Praise is our response to God, but it usually involves music.
We really can’t praise Him if we don’t silence self. We have to take the focus off ourselves and put it on Him.
We have to look for God’s presence. How many times do we go to church and say He wasn’t there that day? It isn’t because He wasn’t there.
It is because we weren’t there — spiritually. We expect Him to initiate the contact. Instead, He waits for us.
I like how Stalker interpreted the first part of Psalm 65: 1. He wrote, “The opening words, ‘Praise is silent for Thee, O God, in Zion,’ describe the hush of a multitude just ready to burst forth in song. The air is full of an intention which has not yet expressed itself, but it will utter its thought immediately, because the nation has assembled to perform the vows made during the drought, when dearth was feared.”
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I love a couple of things Stalker brought out.
- Worship was fixing to start.
- The intent to worship was there from before the beginning.
- Worship was going to be immediate.
- The congregation was united.
- They were fulfilling their promise.
Being a musician, I’ve heard so many times that the song service has to get the congregation into the mindset of worship.
No. The praise team shouldn’t have to talk us into worship. They can’t change our intent.
We have to go into the service with the intention of worshiping the One true God.
Am I going to take my focus off of me because someone is singing at me?
God doesn’t want us to slide into worship. We shouldn’t need to use the song service as our coffee to get us awake enough to worship.
Worship has to be immediate. Foster reminded us that our worship starts inward with reverence, submission, and humility. Then it flows to the outward. We worship the right way at the right time in the right place.
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Spurgeon talked about what is acceptable for worshiping God. The altar for our sacrifices, according to Maclaren, is the gospel. “We have an altar from which those who worship at the tabernacle do not have a right to eat” (Heb 13: 10 CSB).
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That makes Jesus our altar.
Our worship should focus on praising God. We are to be living sacrifices to Him. The living part tells us that it is continual.
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
Job Duty #1
Be a Living Sacrifice (Romans 12: 1-2)
We should expect to worship God. He is Sovereign God and deserves our praises and worship.
Silencing Our Religion
“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jn. 4: 24 ESV)
We silence the ceremony and tradition of religion by focusing our worship on our relationships with Him.
I found this quote for the last verse, but it fit so much with what I want to talk about here. So, I kept it for now.
The Homilist told us how we are to silence our worship in order to worship God in Spirit. He wrote, “‘Praise waiteth for Thee, O God, in Zion.’ Are we to understand ‘waiteth,’ in the sense of silence? Then the essence of worship is silent — it is in the profoundest thoughts, the deepest feelings, the strongest aspirations, which are independent of language or sound. The deepest things of the soul are unutterable.”
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Thoughts, feelings, aspirations. Independent of language or sound (which actions produce).
To me, that reads we have to get worship to the heart level. When we do, we silence the questions and doubts. We silence any fear.
We rest quietly in the palm of God’s hand.
We’ve said it time and time again, we have to be sincere in our worship. We have to genuinely submit our lives to Him.
It isn’t even about who worships what way. It is are we worshiping God’s way?
That means we have to seek God. That is how we build the relationship.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Wow! Robertson didn’t pull any punches when he was talking about worship. Elaine-speak on what he said.
- Worship is not about what we proclaim.
- We have no choice but to worship.
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God expects us to worship by following His laws and commandments through our thoughts, feelings, and aspirations. He wants us to humbly love Him.
We have to focus on God and not let any distractions ruin our worship. We have to silence everything that is not of God. Only that way can we worship God in spirit through our minds.
Silence Ourselves for True Worship
“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!” (Ps. 95: 6 ESV)We silence our need to be filled during worship to truly worship God.
I think we go about worship all wrong. Oh, we may say we want to “spend time” with God.
But we have the wrong goal for spending that time with Him.
We want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We want to be comforted and energized.
But most of all, we want courage and strength for the next week. We want help facing what we are facing.
We don’t take the time to truly worship God.
Stratham explained what we do this way. He wrote, “Whatever other ends are secured by sanctuary service, — the education of thought, the quickening of sensibility, and the deepening of religious trust, — this is one main end, the worship of God.”
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We have to worship God because He is Sovereign God. Not because we want something from Him. Not because we have to fulfill our duty.
We have to praise God because we love Who He is.
Making the Connections
So to me, silence is focus. We have to take the focus off us and what we want. We have to put it on God and worship Him for Who He is.
How Do We Apply This?
- Worship God’s way.
- Accept the privilege of worshiping God.
- Prepare our hearts and minds for worship.
- Be consistent in worship.
- Reflect and pray after worship.
- Worship to grow our spiritual life.
- The closer we draw to God in worship, our prayers become more contemplative.
- Keep our worship in harmony with our lives.
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Father God. Worship is to honor You. It is not to fix us or grow us. It is to give You the glory that You deserve. Forgive us when we do not silence self. This keeps us from truly worshiping You. Show us how You would have us worship. Amen.
What do you think?
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