Refocus in Worship

 Sometimes we can get so involved in the learning that we forget about the worshiping. That's what I need today so I thought I would share this with you. The book of Psalms is my "go to" book in any time of searching or need. In this wonderful book I find that David and the other psalmists share the same emotions that I experience: grief, fear, discouragement, hurt, anger, etc. yet ALWAYS come back to worship, no matter what their circumstances are. Reading Psalms puts me back on solid ground. 

• Psalm 11:1a I have taken refuge in the Lord...

Let that soak in. Refuge means a shelter or protection from danger or distress. (Definition from Merriam-Webster app.) God is our only true shelter or protection when we are in danger or distress. 

• Psalm 11:4 The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes watch: He examines everyone. 

God sees us. He sees our family, our friends, our coworkers, our church family, those who love us and those who hate us. He sees our joy and our hurt. He sees our hearts, our every thought, every word, and every action. He is not blind to the pain we experience physically or emotionally. He sees our need to worship, our need to repent, our need for shelter and protection in life's battles. 

• Psalm 11:7 For the Lord is righteous; He loves righteous deeds. The upright will see His face. 

We will see His face. Not in our own righteousness but because Jesus died on the cross, was buried in Joseph's tomb, resurrected on the 3rd day, ascended into heaven and makes intercession for us. Let me say that again. We will see His face. Now I'm not a fan of basing our relationship with God on whatever emotional experience we are having. Our relationship with Him is based on faith, not emotion. But thinking about seeing His face touches the emotions in my heart. 

The heading for Psalm 41 is "Victory in Spite of Betrayal." David goes through a series of thoughts and emotions in the process of returning to God in worship. 

• Psalm 41:1-3 Happy is one who cares for the poor; the Lord will save him in a day of adversity The Lord will keep him and preserve him: he will be blessed in the land. You will not give him over to the desire of his enemies. The Lord will sustain him on his sickbed; You will heal him on the bed where he lies.  

David is experiencing adversity from enemies and is sick. Our emotions affect our bodies. Depression, grief, fear can produce physical symptoms. Maybe this is where David was as he wrote this psalm. He is reflecting on how he has acted in the past. Yet, he is confident that God will not give him over to his enemies and that God will heal him from his physical ailments. 

• Psalm 41:4 I said, "Lord, be gracious to me: heal me, for I have sinned against You."

A big part of being able to truly worship God is acknowledging our sin and coming to God in repentance. This is a hard concept for us. If we aren't repentant, then we miss the blessings God has in store for us, the healing He can give, the refuge we have in Him, the protection from our enemies. Repentance is key. In Psalm 41:5-8 David lists the ways his enemies treat him. They speak maliciously about him; they wait for him to die so he will be forgotten. They speak deceitfully. Their hears are full of evil. They whisper about him. They plan to harm him. Then in verse 9 we see where the deepest hurt is for David. All this evil plotting is from a friend who he trusted. Living in our society, most of our enemies aren't strangers. Most are people we know; people we work with, people who are our neighbors, people we go to church with. Most of us can understand the hurt that David expresses in this verse. 

• Psalm 41:10-12a But You, Lord, be gracious to me and raise me up; then I will repay them. By this I know that You delight in me: my enemy does not shout in triumph over me. You supported me because of my integrity...

Here David is making the turn toward worship. He recognizes that God loves him and has not let the enemy have victory over him. He knows that even when there is sin in his life, that because he repented, God sees integrity in his heart. That he is a sinner, but that God is forgiving and gracious.  Now we see David fully worshiping.

• Psalm 41:12b-13 ...and set me in Your presence forever. May Yahweh, the God of Israel, be praised for everlasting to everlasting. Amen and amen. 

In Psalm 11 we ended talking about seeing His face. We end Psalm 41 in His presence forever. How can we not worship when we think about seeing God's face, being in His presence forever, not because of what we have done for Him, but because of what He has done for us.