One of the amazing things we get to experience, when we gather together as a church, is worship. We may think it’s great, but what really is it all about? When we sing together, is the goal just to sing some nice words, get to the end of the song, and then move on to the next one?
Psalm 27
Whenever you are exploring the idea of worship it is a good plan to look at the Psalms – the songbook of the bible. Let’s consider Psalm 27, written by King David.
“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” Psalm 27:4
Dwell
There is one thing that David is interested in – it is the idea of dwelling with God. To “dwell”, means to “reside” or to “linger”. David wants to linger in the presence of God. He wants to be preoccupied by God’s closeness.
What if a huge element of our worship together was about dwelling with God? What if it wasn’t about getting to the end of the song, but it was about lingering in God’s presence? Experiencing, even for a moment, the coming reality of God’s ever-dwelling presence with His people.
As we sing, worship, and seek after God, our souls can taste and enjoy His living presence. And is this not why we were created?
“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” Westminster Shorter Catechism
Gaze
The second facet of what David is seeking in Psalm 27 is to “Gaze upon the beauty of the Lord”. He desperately wants to simply look at God, because he is indescribably beautiful. Have you ever sat down and watched the sun set in all its glory? Or stopped and gazed upon the beauty of your child sleeping peacefully in the night? If so, you may have an understanding of the glory of gazing upon something; just soaking in its beauty. Now God is the creator of all that is good and beautiful. He is the view that we will never tire of gazing upon. He is the beauty that inspires all beauty.
“He is the view that we will never tire of gazing upon. He is the beauty that inspires all beauty.”
When we worship, we are to look upon His beauty. To stand in awe of his magnificence. To linger on His glory. David believed that this was the one thing to seek in life. Let’s seek it in our lives and in our worship.
Draw Near
The enjoyment of fellowship with God in His presence, as seen in Psalm 27, anticipates the joy of knowing God in Jesus. Christ has opened the way for us to come boldly into God’s presence. It is not something that we need to long for, it is something we can experience in Christ.
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” Heb 10:19-22
Linger
So, when we gather together as God’s people to worship Him, let’s take the time to dwell with Him and gaze upon His beauty. I would suggest that worship is not about just moving from one song to another, it is about lingering on His glory and gazing upon the one sight whose beauty will never fade. We can come boldly into God’s presence because of Jesus. Let’s stop racing through worship, and start dwelling with Him. After all, in his presence “there is fullness of joy”. Psalm 16:11
