Sometimes you don't feel like worshiping. You know it's true. I know it's true. Because I feel the same way. Yup... the worship pastor sometimes feels the same way.
It can be for a variety of reasons. Perhaps a sin is festering inside of you. Perhaps you had a bad day. Perhaps, like me today, you're just not feeling very well and you'd rather go home and sleep. It happens.
Many times I have taught that we should not go through the motions of worship. God does not like dishonest worship (Matthew 15:7-8; John 4:24). Other times I have taught that we should worship regardless of how we feel, which is true considering that in all things we should be giving God glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). But let's face it... if our hearts are far from God and we are not supposed to go through the motions of worship, what do we do?
Wait.
I didn't mean to wait for the answer! I mean "wait" is the answer. In Psalm 40:2-3, David says that God lifted him from the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire and set his feet on a rock. God put a new song in David's mouth, a hymn of praise. There was a time when David was in the pit that worship was not for him. Then suddenly God lifts him up and puts a new song of worship in his mouth. A new heart for worship.
How?
The answer is found in the first verse of the same Psalm. David waited patiently for the Lord. Do you wait patiently for the Lord? This is not a passive waiting. The word wait in the Hebrew means an "eager looking" or a "lingering" for something. This is not a sitting on your backside and fiddling with your thumbs waiting. This is a waiting where you center your heart on God and eagerly linger in anticipation of his movement!
David did not go through the motions. And he did not walk away. He waited eagerly. And as David says in 40:1-3... God turned to him and heard his cry, lifting him out of the pit and putting a new heart in him to sing his praises.
When you don't feel like worship... wait. Pray. Center your heart on God. Wait. God will move you.
worship Him 24/7...
scott
It can be for a variety of reasons. Perhaps a sin is festering inside of you. Perhaps you had a bad day. Perhaps, like me today, you're just not feeling very well and you'd rather go home and sleep. It happens.
Many times I have taught that we should not go through the motions of worship. God does not like dishonest worship (Matthew 15:7-8; John 4:24). Other times I have taught that we should worship regardless of how we feel, which is true considering that in all things we should be giving God glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). But let's face it... if our hearts are far from God and we are not supposed to go through the motions of worship, what do we do?
Wait.
I didn't mean to wait for the answer! I mean "wait" is the answer. In Psalm 40:2-3, David says that God lifted him from the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire and set his feet on a rock. God put a new song in David's mouth, a hymn of praise. There was a time when David was in the pit that worship was not for him. Then suddenly God lifts him up and puts a new song of worship in his mouth. A new heart for worship.
How?
The answer is found in the first verse of the same Psalm. David waited patiently for the Lord. Do you wait patiently for the Lord? This is not a passive waiting. The word wait in the Hebrew means an "eager looking" or a "lingering" for something. This is not a sitting on your backside and fiddling with your thumbs waiting. This is a waiting where you center your heart on God and eagerly linger in anticipation of his movement!
David did not go through the motions. And he did not walk away. He waited eagerly. And as David says in 40:1-3... God turned to him and heard his cry, lifting him out of the pit and putting a new heart in him to sing his praises.
When you don't feel like worship... wait. Pray. Center your heart on God. Wait. God will move you.
worship Him 24/7...
scott