Episode #302 From Performance to Presence: Worship God Enjoys – Unforced Rhythms of Grace

Hey friends, it's Jen. Welcome to this episode of Good God Talks. Today we're taking a minute to pause, to slow down and to approach worship from a different point of view. Most of us, me included, default to thinking about worship as singing songs out loud to God. So most of the time when we come into those environments, whether that's at home, in our car, by ourselves, or in church community, we come wanting to engage in a way of approaching God that meets a need for us. And it can sometimes feel a little performative. Oh, I need to be as exuberant today as I normally am. Or I wanna challenge myself to be more expressive or to move and act and engage similar to the people around me.

We're talking today about a slightly different perspective on worship. That changes a lot of that and takes those things out of the equation and that's looking at worship from the perspective of seeking to bring joy to God.

Now we know worship is attributing worth to him. Praise and worship. Whether it's singing or instruments, or dancing, or proclaiming his goodness, those are attributing worth and value and high esteem to the Lord. That's good. But sometimes we can feel caught up in the doing and forget, or not even know about, the opportunities that we have to approach God, asking him what he would have us do to worship him in that day or in that moment.

I'm gonna read for you a few quotes from Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline and he says, “We desperately need to see who God is: to read about his self-disclosure to his ancient people Israel, to meditate on his attributes, to gaze upon the revelation of his nature in Jesus Christ.”

There's always more about God that we can learn. And I love the wording of self-disclosure. God discloses himself to us in the Bible and he meets with us presently in our day-to-day lives.

And Foster also says, “What we must see is that the real question in worship is not, ‘What will meet my need?’ The real question is, ‘What kind of worship does God call for?’”

Now sometimes, when we're approaching God in worship, we come with our focus on what we need. We need to feel close to him. We need to have a sense of his nearness. We need to inform our hearts or our perspectives, to lift up our vantage point, to notice him, to remember who he is, to celebrate his goodness and his character. All of those things are good things. That's part of what we receive as we draw near to God in worship.

But the perspective that we get to have as we approach him in worship is, Lord, in light of who you are, because I see you, because I am looking to worship you in ways that you enjoy, in ways that you call for in your word, in ways that you appreciate, because I'm mindful of you, in light of your goodness and your testimony and your self-disclosure that I've learned about who you are: how then God would you have me worship?

And so we are still receiving benefit, like we still leave with our spirits edified with our hearts encouraged. I'm one of those people that cries a lot during worship, and so I can leave with that kind of cathartic experience, even of sensing him close, of being moved by testimonies of who he is and how I've seen him live out those songs in my life and in the lives of people I love.

But the heart of it, the perspective, is ministering to the Lord. God, how can I come with worship that brings you joy today?
In Habakkuk chapter 2:20 it says, “The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” (Habakkuk 2:20)

Now scripture talks a lot about various approaches to praise and worship. We'll talk some more about those in coming episodes, but today I wanna focus on this example. Let us be silent before the Lord in his holy temple and ask him what would bring him joy as we worship him today. Maybe it's continuing in silence. Maybe it's getting exuberance. Maybe it's an expression of service more than singing, or maybe it's singing more than playing an instrument. But the whole aim here is to ask the Lord what would bring him joy? How can our worship bring delight and honor to him, based on what he wants to receive from us right now?

That's the question that we're taking to him today because the kind of worship that brings God joy comes from seeing him clearly. From noticing him. From coming attentively before him, not from our own striving.

So let's ask him: God, what worship can I offer you today that would bring you joy?

Have a good talk.

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