July 28, 2024

Worship as a lifestyle

Our 9:00 am Traditional Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/816418517136628

Our 10:30 am Contemporary Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/374957805342954

If you were to ask me what little bit of “understanding” has changed my life the most, I would say knowing that God is sovereign.

The doctrine of God’s sovereignty may not be mentioned by word, but the concept is in every book of the Bible. It is in the story of creation, where God creates all things out of nothing with nothing more than His Word and declares the goodness of that creation. God also gives Adam dominion and care of the world; this also demonstrates God’s sovereign rule. It is laid out, in concept, throughout Psalms, God ruling over the actions of man, raising up rulers, bringing rulers down, and laughing at the foolish plans of the wicked. It is in the story of Moses, as he floats down the Nile, and is scooped out by Pharaoh’s daughter. It is celebrated in the story of Joseph, and this is one of my favorite examples. Joseph was sold into slavery. He was a good servant, and earned the trust of his owner, but his owner’s wife lied about him, and he wound up in prison. All very unfair, and as we read it through the first time we are outraged, but as we read through, with the understanding of God’s sovereign will, we are able to see God’s hand moving pieces on the “chess board” of Josephs life. You can read this in Genesis 37- 50. We see God using the bad things that people do, to bring about His ultimate will for the good of Joseph and his family. But the story is not just about Joseph and his family, it presents a picture of Christ, a foreshadowing of one man suffering for the benefit of a group of people, or in the case of Jesus, one man suffering for the good of the world. Because of Joseph’s suffering, the birth line of the Messiah was ensured. Joseph spent many years tucked away in prison, and I imagine that he felt forgotten at times, but God was just setting the stage, arranging strategic meetings while incarcerated, bringing about the perfect timing for Joseph’s gifts to be used. Remember how after Joseph interpreted the dreams of two of Pharaoh’s servants, and he asked that they remember him to Pharaoh? You know, “put in a good word for me with the boss”, the surviving servant did not…until the time was right. If the servant had mentioned Joseph when he had been restored to service, Pharaoh would probably not have taken much notice, but in his time of troubled sleep, Joseph’s gift for interpreting dreams made him a person of interest and value to Pharaoh. It’s all about timing. And we see this theme throughout all of scripture.

God is omniscient, He knows everything, He knows what the future holds, so He knew where Joseph needed to be, so that he could do some “networking”. Joseph didn’t know this, at the time he was an innocent man, falsely accused and condemned, and I imagine that he was confused.  ”Why would God not deliver me?”, “Does God even hear my prayers?”, and maybe you feel the same way. I know that I have! But I can promise you…God has not forgotten you, and He does hear your prayers.

One of the wonderful things about the Bible is that we get a “birds’ eye” view, we are able to connect the dots and see what God is doing. People like Joseph, or say Job, did not have that benefit, they simply had to trust in God. They knew who God said He was, and they trusted. And we must do the same. By reading His Word, and looking back over our own “stories”, we will see the same theme of God’s sovereignty, and while the journey may have been nerve wracking, we can, in the end, see that He had a plan all along, and He was guiding events for our benefit, and more importantly, His glory! We may realize that the journey would have been less stressful, if we had just kept our mind set on the fact that God has never failed us, and we may realize that the journey could have been, yes, even a time of peace, if we remembered that God is who He says He is, and that you are precious to Him, and every detail of your life is known to Him, and He is managing them in such a caring way, for your benefit, and for your growth!

The season of suffering is rough, but with the understanding that God loves you, and that He is good, and that He is sovereign, can transform that season from a season of anxiety to a season of growth. When we choose to trust God in our suffering, or in times of uncertainty, our faith grows, and as we choose to offer our sacrifice of praise, and enter His courts…in spite of our fear, in spite of our pain…we find that His presence is a place of comfort and security, and we know that no matter what the future holds, we know that our future may be uncertain to us, but it is not uncertain to God, and we can trust His divine plan for our lives. If we choose to worship God in this season, we will find that because God inhabits the praises of His people, we will have peace and maybe even joy in this time. God is sovereign….it’s just part of His character, and it is one of the many things that makes Him worthy of worship….but I have found that when I worship, I am the one who benefits, when I worship I am filled with joy, I experience a closeness to God that makes all the bad things in life feel less significant, and I feel peace. We are called to worship…but I cannot imagine why my worship would be so valuable to God. Maybe it’s important to God because He knows how healing it is for us, and He wants for us to be whole. God is a good loving Father, and He wants us to receive all the gifts that He has for us, and one of those gifts is worship! – Ginny Axelrod