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Cultivating a Heart of True Worship

March 17, 2015 | by: Scott Denny | 0 comments

Worship is at the core of 
all that we do, all that we think and all that we say. Worship is at the heart of everything about us. We were made to worship the Creator (Romans 1:25), and yet the reality is that we live in a Genesis 3 world. In Adam, all
 of humanity has chosen to worship what God has created rather than God Himself (Romans 5:12), and until Christ returns we will remain in a constant battle between the desires of our flesh to worship the creation and the Holy Spirit’s work in us to mold us, and to shape us into true and faithful worshippers of God
 (2 Corinthians 3:18).

cultivating-a-heart-of-true-worshipWorship is a moment by moment reality. We are always going to worship something. Always. However, we were made to worship Some One. Why then do we fail to worship our Creator? Why 
do Christian men and women reject what they know is true and turn to what is untrue?

While I know we can all answer, “Sin is the reason,” I want us to consider what David says from Psalm 103 when he pleads to himself “forget not all His benefits” (Psalm 103:2). David exhorts himself to not forget. Which means what? He forgets! We forget, and so we must daily call to mind ALL of the precious benefits of knowing God and being known by Him.

It is so easy for us to forget when we are so wrapped up in our lives. Our wants. Our desires. We become so self-absorbed with our circumstances that our focus becomes us. Our focus becomes our wants, hopes and dreams, rather than pursuing after devoting ourselves to loving God with all our heart and having our response to circumstances flow from a God-focused worship rather than a self-focused worship.

We all do it. We all forget. I forget.

When I forget, I become spiritually dry. I become thirsty, and I seek to be satisfied from all the wrong places. I think David knew a little something about being thirsty and spiritually dry. Clearly, if you know David’s story, you know that he forgot about what matters most, and he began to worship what God created rather than worshipping the Creator.

The whole of Psalm 103 is a wonderful Psalm that cultivates a heart of true worship. It’s a wonderful reflection and declaration about the miraculous benefits of not only knowing God but
 also being known intimately by God. My hope is that as you
 read through the first five verses of this Psalm and this very brief summation of it, that your heart will be cultivated, fertilized, and refreshed as we meditate upon the glorious benefits of our salvation. I pray that your joy in the Lord will be rekindled, and it will spill over into your own personal devotions, your marriages, your work, your own personal walk with Jesus, and that every thought, word and deed will be affected by true worship of the one True God.

Consider for a moment these first 5 verses of David’s Psalm.

Psalm 103

1. Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
2. Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all his benefits,
3. who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,
4. who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5. who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

these-are-all-gospel-saturated-wordsNote that David’s words of praise are very personal. His desire is for ‘all that is within [him]’ (v1) to praise the Lord.

He is bursting forth in praise. He is not praising God impersonally, but his reflection is very personal. God is his God. God is your God. If you’re a Christian reading this article, you know God and He knows you.

Think upon these words: Forgiven. Redeemed. Healed. Crowned. Renewed. Satisfied. These are all gospel saturated words. These are all words that should call to mind the glorious gift of your salvation.

You are forgiven of ALL of your sins (v2). All of them. ALL. OF. THEM. There is not a single sin left for you to attempt to make right with God on your own in the hopes that He will forgive you. You. Are. Forgiven. Let Christ’s final words on the cross give you peace. “It is finished!”. With those words you are redeemed (v4). Do you give that truth, that wonderful truth, a second thought? Redemption requires a payment. A great and precious price was paid for your redemption. Do you forget that you were delivered from darkness? Not just the pit, but darkness. Delivered from a lifestyle that was in complete opposition and hostility to God.

He redeemed you from all of that at a great cost to Himself. Think for a moment upon Isaiah 53:10, “It was the will of the Lord to crush [His Son]!” He crushed His own Son for you. Can you see why Peter would call the blood of Jesus ‘precious’ (1Peter 1:19)? How differently might we all live, if we were to contemplate moment by moment our own forgiveness and redemption? How might you think, for example, about your relationships knowing that you don’t need to live for the approval of men when you are beloved, forgiven and redeemed by God?

You are crowned. (v.4). You are made a joint heir with Christ. No longer are you declared a child of wrath, you have been crowned and made a child of God. Your crown is not one of merit but of mercy. You did nothing to earn what has been given to you. You received a crown of mercy!

Conversely, a crown of thorns was rammed into your Redeemer’s head. A crown of suffering, shame, sorrow and death was buried into his skull, and a crown life giving mercy has been tenderly placed upon your head, and you are declared a son or daughter of the King. Is there any wonder that after reflecting on these truths that David would burst out “Bless the Lord O my soul!”? Do you burst out? Is your soul lifted up in thanks and praise when you dwell upon these rich gospel truths? If not, then consider them further.

“[He] satisfies you with good” (v.5). What ‘good’ are you satisfied with? Do you settle for the ‘good’ that comes from your job, your comfort, or your marriage. Or are you satisfied by the One who IS good? David writes in Psalm 16:11, “in Your presence is the fullness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures forever more.” Full satisfaction, full pleasure, full joy comes from God Himself. He is the fullest expression of goodness that can satisfy your soul.

He satisfies you with good in order to renew you (v5). Have you ever been thirsty, really thirsty? Then you know the sensation of being refreshed by the coolness of that water. You know the renewal it provides to you so that you can get back to the hard day’s work or to finish the final period of a basketball game. You know the refreshment it brings.

Christ, however, declares that true thirst, true hunger is only satisfied and found in Him alone. Christ declares that He offers water that will never leave you thirsty (John 4:14). He declares that He is the bread of life and that true life is found by feasting upon Him (John 6:58). Too 
often, beloved, we seek to be 
refreshed by
 what can never
 satisfy, by what
 can never renew
us. We seek to
 find comfort and 
joy in what only leaves us dry and wanting more but can never fully satisfy (Isaiah 55:2).

Lastly, David declares that God heals all of our diseases. 
God does heal sick. I’ve seen it. So have many of you. He is actively at work caring for His children. But God also heals 
the brokenhearted (Psalm 147:3). Suffering is real. Sorrow is real. Pain from broken relationships is real. But God declares that He even heals the brokenhearted. He is the Father of all mercies and the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3). He 
is actively and intimately involved in the lives of His children. He has compassion on us.

Listen to these words “He knows 
our frame. He remembers we are dust.” (v14). He knows we’re fragile. He knows we can only take so much. He knows beloved. He is a loving Father, who knows and understands suffering, sorrow and pain because His own Son experienced all of that
 to the degree that you and I will never know and yet never sinned (Hebrews 4:14-15). He never doubted. He never failed to fix His eyes upon His loving Father in the midst of pain. As you suffer, fight to remember and not to forget that you have a sympathetic Savior who bids you to come to Him and find rest (Matthew 11:28, 29).

scott-dennyIn light of God’s gracious work, is it any wonder that David would begin this psalm of praise with “Bless the Lord O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy Name.” (v1)?

Can you sing that song? Can you rejoice with all that is within you? If you’re like me (and I know many of you are) then there are days when we can’t. It’s on those days beloved, it’s in those moments, where we have forgotten our first love. In those moments return to Calvary and meditate and reflect upon the multifaceted, glorious gift of your salvation, and it is there that your heart will be cultivated to worship and adore your Creator.

Scott Denny is a Pastor at Grace Bible Church

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