Here I Am to Worship

I’m in the middle of researching the story of the woman at the well in Samaria–she is my current work-in-progress. This book will be far different from the one I just turned in about Mary Magdalene. Though Mary’s story is not given a lot of page-time in Scripture, the woman at the well is given even less. A long-ish conversation in only one gospel account–John is all we know.

I won’t go into detail about what I have discovered about Samaritans or her story in particular, but I will say that the conversation she had with Jesus made me pause. Jesus talked to her about a number of things, one of them having to do with worship. Jesus told her that the day was coming when true worshipers would worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth–not in temples either in Jerusalem or on Mt. Gerizim where a temple or a shrine used to rest.

The subject of worship is one I have pondered and still do, so naturally, when it came up in the conversation this woman had with Jesus, I wanted to know more.

When I was growing up, the churches I attended didn’t really mention worship. We sang hymns and listened to the pastor preach. We attended prayer meetings on Wednesday or youth events, but worship wasn’t really something that anyone discussed.

Later, in my adult years, I began to hear pastors say, right before we stood to sing, “Are you ready to worship?” Worship seemed to be synonymous with singing.

But is it?

The singing that we’ve experienced in various churches has not seemed like worship to me, unless the song truly pointed us to focus our minds on God, on Jesus, on the Holy Spirit, and glorified them by pointing out in verse what they had done for us. Hymns do this pretty well because the words are so theologically deep. Some of today’s newer songs, which I enjoy listening to every day, also carry a depth to them that causes me to lift my heart heavenward.

But not all. And that troubles me because in churches I’ve been in, the singing was the worship. But what if the singing is just repetitive choruses with a focus on me, not Christ? Is that worship too?

To answer my own question, one day, I searched through an online Bible app for all of the ways worship is mentioned in Scripture. Here is some of what I found:

1. Worship involved sacrifice.
2. Worship involved bowing low to the ground in answer to prayer.
3. People worshiped by bowing their heads.
4. Joshua fell face down on the ground and worshiped.
5. Elkanah went to the place where the tabernacle stood to worship each year.
6. David worshiped at the place where the ark was after the death of his son.
7. True worship is obedience to the covenant. The new covenant is still to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, but it is also to obey and believe that Jesus is His Son and accept all that Jesus did for us.

In the Psalms, songs were written to be used in worship to the Lord, so there is a place for singing. Though people sang and danced in false worship before the golden calf, so singing alone is not a sign of worship.

Worship and praise went together and often included bowed heads, lifted hands, and faces to the ground. Confession of sin was part of worship, and when Job lost everything, he tore his clothes, shaved his head, and fell to the ground and worshiped. There is no mention that Job sang.

Kneeling, trembling before the Lord, keeping the Lord’s covenant, and believing God’s word are all part of worship. False worship can mock true worship. Even the demons worship the Lord, but they don’t trust in Him or worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

Worship in Scripture seems to consist of a lot of bowing low, which is an act of humbling ourselves, obeying the Lord by keeping His covenant, confessing our sins, and basically admitting that He is God and we are not.

Singing can be part of worship, for sure. Praise is often expressed through song. And I love music, so singing songs that point my heart toward the Lord are the best kind.

But I hope we realize, as the woman at the well surely must have, that when Jesus talked about worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth, He was not talking about standing up to sing. That is not what the Bible calls worship or describes as worship. We need to realize that while God wants us to sing His praises, may our songs truly be about Him and praising Him, not focused on us. Life isn’t about us. Worship isn’t about us.

Jesus wanted that woman to recognize that. He was bringing a new kind of worship to the world. Not one carried out in temples or on mountains, but worship that began in the heart of the worshiper. When we worship God, let us remember who He is and not hesitate to bow before Him. Let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. Sing? Yes, of course. But worship is not just singing.

~Selah