Monday, November 26, 2007

Going through the Motions

“You do not delight in sacrifice and offering; You open my ears to listen.” (Psalm 40:6 CSB)

David was a man of deep spiritual insight. In his day animal sacrifices were practiced day after day in their worship system. No doubt he himself participated in it. People would bring the prescribed animal to the altar to be sacrificed. They performed the prescribed slaughtering of the animal, and then the priest would go through the required steps for placing it on the altar.


David watched day after day as people went through the ritual of sacrifice. It seems that he wondered if this had any real impact on the lives of people. The sacrifices were not intended to become mere ritual, but undoubtedly in many cases that is exactly what they became for some. David likely saw this happen in his own life, and thus his statement to the Lord, “You do not delight in sacrifice and offering; You open my ears to listen.” The Lord’s intent in worship is that His people open their ears to listen.

It is all too easy for worship to become little more than ritual, a religious procedure we go through because we think we have to, but which has no real impact on who we are or what we do. It is possible to go through the motions of worship without truly worshiping God.

Worship only has impact when we open our ears and actually listen to what the Lord is saying to us. “Listen,” in this sense, means to hear and to obey the word of the Lord. That is the outcome of worship that God intends and desires for us. God knows that when worship is genuinely from the heart that it will change us for the better, strengthen us, and fulfill us.

If you find yourself just going through the motions of worship, then pause for a moment, acknowledge that before the Lord, and ask Him to enable you to focus your mind and your heart entirely on Him, so that you may hear what He has to say to you.

Lord, May each day become a day of worship for us, and may we truly hear what Your Spirit wants to say to us, so we can follow You. Amen.

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