Why God Requires Worship

Why God Requires Worship
Psalm 50:1--23
"If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine,
and all that is in it." (v. 12)
During the early days of my Christian experience, I queried
why God put so many texts in the Bible that command us to worship Him. It
seemed to me that many of these commands bordered on egotism and
self-centeredness. We all despise those people who clamor for our attention
or commendation, and a picture of a God who needed constant ego strokes
threatened to impress itself on my mind. It happened most when I read the
Psalms. "Praise Me, worship Me," the Almighty seemed to be saying
everywhere. Then I read C. S. Lewis's Reflections on the Psalms and the
whole matter dropped into the right perspective. This is what he said: "The
miserable idea that God should in any sense need or crave for our worship
like a vain woman wanting compliments or a vain author presenting his new
books to people who had never met or heard of him is implicitly answered by
the words: 'If I be hungry I will not tell thee' (Ps. 50:12). Even if such
an absurd Deity could be conceived He would hardly come to us, the lowest of
rational creatures, to gratify His appetite. I don't want my dog to bark at
my books." He went on to point out that in commanding us to worship Him the
Almighty is demonstrating far more interest in us than in Himself. Our
worship of Him completes us. We perfect our personalities to the degree that
we give ourselves to God in worship. In eternity we shall experience full
joy because we shall be able to worship Him fully. Meanwhile we are tuning
our instruments.
Prayer:
O God, I want to worship You in the way You deserve to be
worshipped. Help me give You my worship not because I am completed by it but
because You are so worthy of it. I worship You, Father, with all my heart.
Amen.
For Further Study
1 Chron. 16:8--36; Rev. 4:8--11; 5:11--13
1. What is the anthem of heaven?
2. Why not echo the anthem yourself today?
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