The Heart of Our Worship

We are drawn to worship what we feel is worthy.  Some worship celebrity, some worship money, some worship lifestyle, but without a focus on the God recorded and revealed in Scripture, we worship the wrong things. 

These things are not inherently bad, but they ultimately do not deserve the entirety of our worship. Only God does. 

When we consider the nature and character of God, we discover that only He is the one worthy of our worship.  Here is a question for you to ponder:

How would life for humanity appear if our worship was ONLY of God and not the created matter around us?

We look at Isaiah 40:21-31 and see that only God deserves our worship.

Isaiah 40:21-24

21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not considered the foundations of the earth? 22 God is enthroned above the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth and spreads them out like a tent to live in. 23 He reduces princes to nothing and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland. 24 They are barely planted, barely sown, their stem hardly takes root in the ground when he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.

All religions start with manmade appeals to a deity with the belief that if we do enough, pray enough, or give enough, we’ll eventually receive the deity’s approval. This is doing-centric. The problem is if we start with us, the god we serve will be a mere reflection of ourselves, and thus the skeptics are correct, "god is made in man's image."  It is the nature of humans to be man-centered or self-centered. Just as a river is greater than a creek and a mountain is greater than a hill, or a buffalo is greater than a dog, and an elephant is greater than a buffalo, so man notes that there must be something greater than the human.

Humanity has long devised gods (with a lower case g) that they seek to appease, or to be afraid of since the god is greater than the human.  But from the beginning, God, who created humanity in his own image, has sought for humanity to be a being as close to God in nature as possible. It was humanity that removed itself from God (with a capital G).  

Isaiah points us in this direction.  He starts this passage with rhetorical questions:  Do you not know?  Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not considered....?  He points out to the people that though they have repeatedly heard this message they do not seem to have heeded it.  Isaiah stressed that the truth of God as Creator had been told to them and should have had an ongoing impact on them and led to discernment.  God had given this revelation from the beginning of creation. Foundations emphasizes that the earth had a founder or Creator and that there was a time when the earth was not. Careful consideration of the cosmos points to a Creator beyond itself more so than to the accidental formation of quarks, atoms, molecules, elements, compounds, and ultimately things for humanity to make use of.

The term enthroned pictures God seated as a ruler, the one individual whose will is done, and whose orders are carried out without question.  God is certainly the one individual who established the laws of the universe and determined how things should fit and operate together. Isaiah portrays God as transcendent and sitting above the zenith of the world. From this high vantage point He has all-around vision and can see in every direction as far as there “is” distance.  From this concept comes the term God's eye view to describe a perspective that is "outside of" what is being observed; one that can see everything all at once. From God’s perspective humanity seems as insects and they appear weak and insignificant, even if multitudinous. From a high altitude humans certainly have the appearance of ants, or grasshoppers on the move.  

Isaiah then describes the power and authority of God.  He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth refers to the ease with which God stretched out the heavens—it took no more effort than spreading out a lighweight sheet of fabric. The image of pitching a tent, a common practice at the time this was written, again pictures the mighty transcendent Lord preparing a place for people, HIS CREATION, to dwell.

Isaiah notes that humanity seeks to appoint for itself human leaders to guide the herd of humanity.  Judges, rulers, princes, kings, emperors and other humans invested in high positions or offices, are often bound to think of themselves with a self-importance greater than they warrant.  The phrase reduces . . . to nothing involves a play on terms. The verb is the same one used for appointing someone to an official position. But rather than being appointed to a weighty position, God appoints them to nothingness. Isaiah had seen kings of Judah come and go. The Lord raised them up, determined the lengths of their rule, then brought them to nothing.  

Wasteland translates the same word used in Genesis 1:2 for the uninhabitable chaos of the earth. Powerful people ultimately come to a condition in which they are rendered useless.  Isaiah contrasted God’s permanence with humanity’s frailty. No sooner than having come on the scene are such human authorities blown away like “chaff” –  the worthless husks of grain left over after the good seed is separated from it by winnowing or threshing. It is indigestible by humans. Metaphorically the term refers to that which is worthless as sustenance.

Next Isaiah reviews some of God's powerful attributes.

Isaiah 40:25-28

25 “To whom will you compare me, or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One. 26 Look up and see! Who created these? He brings out the stars by number; he calls all of them by name. Because of his great power and strength, not one of them is missing. 27 Jacob, why do you say, and Israel, why do you assert, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my claim is ignored by my God”? 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding.

Isaiah asks another obvious rhetorical question: Who is God's equal? As the old Highlander movies propounded, "there can be only one", this is the right answer to God's question. This question comes from the Lord Himself. His asking the questions emphasizes the urgency of responding and the importance of getting the answer right.  There IS only ONE God.  There cannot be multiple equally-powerful “capital G” Gods’.

Note that Isaiah uses the phrase "asks the Holy One". This indicates a personal name, not merely a descriptor.  This title is used thirty-five times in Isaiah in reference to God. The word holy and holiness describe God’s completeness and wholeness.  "The Holy One" indicates that there IS only ONE that is complete, whole, and sacred or divine.  THIS is the Holy One. God is holy in His essence rendering Him beyond comparison or equal. Perhaps another way of understanding this phrase is  "says the one who is purely God; the one without anything that is 'NOT GOD' mixed in."

This God invited hearers to look to the heavens; to the heavenly bodies—the stars. The phrase He brings out indicates the appearance of the stars is not merely a natural phenomenon. Rather, God is intimately involved in the working of His creation.  The stars were brought into existence by God.  Not only that, but God calls the roll of the stars, by name. God not only knows how many stars there are, but God knows each star’s name, its character and characteristics.  It's essential nature. 

Knowing something’s or someone’s name meant you have a connection, and an understanding of its uniqueness, its history, its culture, and perhaps, its value. God knows the stars not just in their totality (number) but in their individuality (by name). God knows the essential nature, characteristics, and function of each star and how they affect every part of what we know as the Universe.  That no star is missing means God has not only "called roll" and knows them, but God maintains them in their places and ensures that they are serving the purposes for which he created them.

Isaiah invokes the dual name for Jacob/Israel, something he does twenty-two times in Isaiah, to remind his audience that Jacob “the swindler” was changed to Israel "the one who wrestled with God.  Isaiah's listeners were asking the question “God may be the Great Creator, but is He a caring God?  If God is so great, why didn’t He do something about their situation?” The age old cliche "what have you done for me lately God?" applies here. Some of Isaiah’s hearers asserted there were some things God did not know or that God ignored regarding their situation. They believed God kept on ignoring them. Thus they asserted that even if God did know, He did not care. The complaint implies that God should have supported Israel's direction. This is a CLASSIC case of humanity's age old "It's all about ME God...what are YOU doing for ME?!"

God has no beginning or end. He is not limited by time, neither does God get diminished over time. God never has to rest or abandon His purposes. God is capable of the long-haul—His plan does not just focus on the immediate but on the whole course of time, and the energy that God set in motion at the beginning of it all cannot be exhausted.

Next we see that God shares his energies with us.

Isaiah 40:29-31

29 He gives strength to the faint and strengthens the powerless. 30 Youths may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall, 31 but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint.

Faint refers to a lack of inner strength, the will to continue on. Weary refers to breaking down under pressure and being overcome by circumstances. These words do NOT apply to God. The verb form of the word gives is active, implying that God is in the process of continuously and abundantly giving. Giving characterizes God. God does not lack strength or power, thus He stands in position to supply it to the powerless—and He has more than enough to give it to those in need of it. 

His strengthening is an ongoing reality to those who trust Him.  The phraseYouths and young men stresses that even the most virile and capable eventually become worn down—none will escape the need for God’s strengthening. The broad term youths refers to young males and includes everyone from an unweaned child to assistants to kings, and to soldiers’ armor bearers and, on occasion, even to the soldiers themselves. 

Young men refers to those males in the prime of their lives—warriors prepared for battle or athletes—those in peak physical condition. Stumble and fall literally is “stumble, stumbling” and refers to collapsing 

To trust in the Lord is to admit there is no other who can help. It also points to the confidence that in due course God will act on one’s behalf. The word translated as trust could also be rendered “hope” or “wait.” It involves waiting on the Lord’s plan and timing rather than rushing ahead. 

The word rendered renew can mean “exchange” or “replace.” To renew one’s strength, then, means both that they will substitute the Lord’s strength for their own natural strength and that they will keep putting on the new strength from Him—a different strength, a divine strength. 

 

Those who put their trust in the Lord will fly high above whatever difficulties they face. To soar implies riding high above whatever difficulties and circumstances happen to be found below. Run pictures those in a race who have the endurance to finish the course and win. Walk indicates that such renewed strength is not merely a temporary burst of energy but an on-going ability to go on in the strength the Lord gives.

Humanity, like a magnetic charger, needs to be in “close proximity” to God for recharging to occur.  Are you “plugged into God?”

The Starting Place. The worship journey begins with seeing God for who He is and responding to His offer of forgiveness in Christ. As you become aware of God's greatness, power, uniqueness, and worth, incorporate that awareness into your regular worship.  Focus on these excellent attributes of God and the lesser attributes of the world will seem as nothing.

The Growing Place. Jesus demonstrated for us how God's anointed one thinks, feels, and behaves.  Search the New Testament, read books, communicate with Jesus and incorporate Jesus' attributes into your life and it will help you to grow more like Jesus.

The Sowing Place. Jesus helped the helpless, he brought hope to the hopeless, he shared food with the hungry, he brought wisdom to the foolish and SO much more than this. As we go through our lives we should be about the same business as God’s anointed one.

The Sharing Place.  Ask yourself how you can point the way to the God who loves and gives grace to those who will seek Him. Begin praying for them and looking for the opportunity to point them to Christ, the only place where true hope and comfort are found.

God, and only God, deserves our worship.  God, and only God, is fully and wholly worthy of worship.  God deserves our spiritual fruit, and showing and guiding others to bear spiritual fruit, to God is our worship of God.