Like our bodies need the sun, food and water, our souls need to worship God.
God declared in Isaiah 43:7:
“…Everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”
Paul echoes this in his letter to the brothers and sisters in Colossae “…all things have been created through Him (the Son, who is the image of the invisible God) and for Him.” (1:15, 16b)
But like so much of what God’s created, satan has taken our God-given need to worship Him and offers us a cheap counterfeit.
Those who refuse to acknowledge God’s existence (and even some who do) will turn that need to worship toward something else.
“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised.” (Rom. 1:25)
Throughout time people have worshipped everything from vegetation to animals (the living and the golden kind), to the sun, moon, and stars.
But what people mostly worship is one another and themselves. It’s our soul on junk food. There is nothing that will destroy it faster than worshipping people, or seeking to have others worship us, and there is no shortage of ways that people seek to be worshipped, revered, idolized, bowed down to, put on a pedestal, feared.
I don’t know how many people I’ve heard who believed fame and fortune – self worship – to be the ultimate success, and after seeking all the world says is important, or even being thrust into it, fall into a pit of despair once they’ve reached that pinnacle and confessed they said to themselves, “Is this it?”
They’re left feeling empty, broken, and despondent. Many have believed there was nothing else to live for.
The first thing Jesus did is resist the temptation of the devil in the wilderness to worship him.
The devil first tempted Him to stop seeking God by trying to end His time of fasting. Then he tried to lead Him to test God. Ultimately, he tried leading Jesus to worship him.
“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’” (Matt. 4:8-9)
The devil is methodical and predictable. If he can lead people away from God, he can get them to turn their God-given need for worship onto anything and anyone else, and he’s won.
But Christ shows us the way by telling him, “Away from me, satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. (Deut. 6:13).'” (Matt. 4:10)
When we, too, find ourselves in the desert of life, or the black depths of the oceans, we can be tempted to take any way out, to cut short our suffering, to take satan’s deal, but it’s only a short-cut to despair and regret.
“Deep calls to deep…”
King David wrote these words in Psalm 42 describing a time of great turmoil in his life. It is in these great sufferings of life we hear God calling to us in the deepest recesses of our souls, and we call back to Him from there.
Just as God knows what inhabits the loneliest of deserts and the deepest of ocean floors, God knows what’s in our hearts. Never do we need to be afraid to invite Him into whatever is going on in our hearts and lives.
The only fear we should have is in not calling on Him, on not worshipping Him, and turning instead to something or someone else.
So what is our remedy to keep from being caught off guard? To being tempted to turn to any other form of worship?
Abide!
Abide in the Vine-in Christ, and in His love. Hang on as dearly to Him as a branch holds fast to its vine for nourishment and life.
That is true worship. And from our worship of Him in spirit and in truth, He, our Creator, our King, our Lord, our Sustenance, our Light, our All, will nourish our souls with Himself and give us all we need for the abundant life.
In Him,
Dorci
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”