Day 7/12 – Worship

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
Worship
Day One Hundred Ninety-three

“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Romans 12:1

The numerous references to worship in the Bible indicate the central role it plays in the believer’s life. God, the object of our worship, demands it: “Exalt the Lord our God, And worship at His holy hill; For holy is the Lord our God.” 266 We worship God because of who He is. He alone is worthy.

Paul calls attention to the essential ingredient in order for worship to be accepted by God: the presenting of our bodies as a living sacrifice. God told Israel that He wanted no more of their burnt offerings and sacrifices. He was offended by their solemn days of assembly and sabbaths. All external acts were putrid to Him because their hearts were not right.267 The foundation of any act of worship must be the presenting of self as a living sacrifice.

You do not gather to worship so that you can feel good, or sense that you are close to God. All such emotion must remain ancillary to the objective of acknowledging the goodness and greatness of God. You can never consider yourself in worship to God until you have first presented your life as a living sacrifice, humbled, broken, and available for whatever He desires. Without this, all outward show will be as odious to Him as was the sacrifice of Israel in the days of Isaiah.

266 Psalm 99:9
267 cf. Isaiah 1

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Psalm 4-6 Acts 17:16-34 (New King James Version)

Psalm 4-6
The Safety of the Faithful
To the [a]Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
4
Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have relieved me in my distress;
[b]Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
2
How long, O you sons of men,
Will you turn my glory to shame?
How long will you love worthlessness
And seek falsehood? Selah
3
But know that the Lord has [c]set apart for Himself him whozzzz is godly;
The Lord will hear when I call to Him.
4
Be[d] angry, and do not sin.
Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah
5
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
And put your trust in the Lord.
6
There are many who say,
“Who will show us any good?”
Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us.
7
You have put gladness in my heart,
More than in the season that their grain and wine increased.
8
I will both lie down in peace, and sleep;
For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
A Prayer for Guidance
To the Chief Musician. With [e]flutes. A Psalm of David.
5
Give ear to my words, O Lord,
Consider my [f]meditation.
2
Give heed to the voice of my cry,
My King and my God,
For to You I will pray.
3
My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord;
In the morning I will direct it to You,
And I will look up.
4
For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,
Nor shall evil [g]dwell with You.
5
The boastful shall not stand in Your sight;
You hate all workers of iniquity.
6
You shall destroy those who speak falsehood;
The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
7
But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy;
In fear of You I will worship toward [h]Your holy temple.
8
Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies;
Make Your way straight before my face.
9
For there is no [i]faithfulness in their mouth;
Their inward part is destruction;
Their throat is an open tomb;
They flatter with their tongue.
10
Pronounce them guilty, O God!
Let them fall by their own counsels;
Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions,
For they have rebelled against You.
11
But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;
Let them ever shout for joy, because You [j]defend them;
Let those also who love Your name
Be joyful in You.
12
For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous;
With favor You will surround him as with a shield.
A Prayer of Faith in Time of Distress
To the Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. On [k]an eight-stringed harp. A Psalm of David.
6
O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
2
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
3
My soul also is greatly troubled;
But You, O Lord—how long?
4
Return, O Lord, deliver me!
Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake!
5
For in death there is no remembrance of You;
In the grave who will give You thanks?
6
I am weary with my groaning;
[l]All night I make my bed swim;
I drench my couch with my tears.
7
My eye wastes away because of grief;
It grows old because of all my enemies.
8
Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity;
For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.
9
The Lord has heard my supplication;
The Lord will receive my prayer.
10
Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled;
Let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly.
Footnotes:
• Psalm 4:1 Choir Director
• Psalm 4:1 Be gracious to me
• Psalm 4:3 Many Heb. mss., LXX, Tg., Vg. made wonderful
• Psalm 4:4 Lit. Tremble or Be agitated
• Psalm 5:1 Heb. nehiloth
• Psalm 5:1 Lit. groaning
• Psalm 5:4 Lit. sojourn
• Psalm 5:7 Lit. the temple of Your holiness
• Psalm 5:9 uprightness
• Psalm 5:11 protect, lit. cover
• Psalm 6:1 Heb. sheminith
• Psalm 6:6 Or Every night

Acts 17:16-34
The Philosophers at Athens
16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was [a]given over to idols. 17 Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. 18 [b]Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this [c]babbler want to say?”
Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.
19 And they took him and brought him to the [d]Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? 20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” 21 For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
Addressing the Areopagus
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the [e]Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26 And He has made from one [f]blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” 33 So Paul departed from among them. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Footnotes:
• Acts 17:16 full of idols
• Acts 17:18 NU, M add also
• Acts 17:18 Lit. seed picker, an idler who makes a living picking up scraps
• Acts 17:19 Lit. Hill of Ares, or Mars’ Hill
• Acts 17:22 Lit. Hill of Ares, or Mars’ Hill
• Acts 17:26 NU omits blood