(1) Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer.
2 From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3 For You have been a shelter for me, A strong tower from the enemy.
4 I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings...
In verse 8 of the Psalm, he says: "I will sing praise to Your name forever, That I may daily perform my vows."
We recognize here the importance of crying out to God, communicating with Him from the innermost parts of our being. Words spoken to God in humility and worship can help us to maintain our focus on Him and actually change our perspective. Through our worship, we maintain an awareness of the presence of Almighty God and we experience the power to walk in His truth. Worship comes from a heart surrendered to Him, so that we can draw closer to our Savior.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
14 "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"
Later in the chapter, we find that the shepherds went to see Jesus and verse 20 records their response:
20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
In Matthew 2, we find that the Wise Men, or the Magi, upon seeing Jesus, presented Him with gifts and worshiped Him - even before that, after visiting with King Herod, they saw the star that had led them to the region; the Bible says:
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.
11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
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On the 7th day of our "25: A Christmas Advent-ure," the Faith Radio Advent Guide, we "unwrap," in a sense, another gift of God in our 25-day series called, Unwrapping Christmas. Today, we focus on the gift of worship.
To be able to enter the presence of God - to stand, bow, or kneel before Him, and offer praise to Him is an incredible gift to us. Jesus purchased that right to come before Him by giving Himself, dying on a cross, raising from the dead, and offering us salvation, bringing us into relationship with Almighty God. God is pleased with our worship and we can draw near to Him as we bring the sacrifice of praise to Him.
The Scriptures tell us about instances of worship around the time of the birth of Jesus. In the book of Luke, chapter 2, following the angels informing the shepherds about His birth, we read this account:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
14 "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"
Later in the chapter, we find that the shepherds went to see Jesus and verse 20 records their response:
20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.
11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Worship can take upon itself different forms - and a common form is expressed through our words - whether spoken, sung, or even shouted. Words are very powerful, and in the course of expressing our adoration and praise to God, we gain a greater appreciation of who He is.
We're reminded in Scripture that words can bless and words can curse. Words can build up or tear down. And, when we worship God, we are aligning ourselves with the source of truth.
These days, with the abundance of information that is available, we have to be careful to speak the truth. That is especially important in the social media realm. Just recently, with the release of what apparently is the first batch of "The Twitter Files," the new owner of the social media platform, Twitter, Elon Musk, has illustrated how words can create a story and can be twisted and manipulated for the purpose of power and control.
Prior to the release of this information over the weekend relative to how the platform selectively released or blocked information to fit political purpose, an article at The Washington Stand said:
Nonetheless, the fight for freedom of expression is far from over. Musk has repeatedly brought up the topic in the past few months addressing both advertisers and the public about his desire to turn Twitter into a nonpartisan social media platform. Most recently, on November 28, he tweeted, “This is a battle for the future of civilization. If free speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all that lies ahead.” He added that he is planning on publishing the “Twitter Files on free speech suppression” because “the public deserves to know what really happened…”
Matt Taibbi is a journalist who reviewed information on a pattern of this "suppression;" in a Twitter thread, called, "THE TWITTER FILES," he writes:
5. In an early conception, Twitter more than lived up to its mission statement, giving people “the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.”Just yesterday, it was announced that the new head of the company, Elon Musk, had dismissed the now-former legal counsel who didn't follow Musk's directive on releasing this information.
6. As time progressed, however, the company was slowly forced to add those barriers. Some of the first tools for controlling speech were designed to combat the likes of spam and financial fraudsters.
7. Slowly, over time, Twitter staff and executives began to find more and more uses for these tools. Outsiders began petitioning the company to manipulate speech as well: first a little, then more often, then constantly.
8. By 2020, requests from connected actors to delete tweets were routine.
Today, we're thinking about worship, and it can take upon itself different forms - ultimately, the way we live is a series of either acts of worship or not - of obedience or not. Often, worship is thought of as singing and speaking; and I do want to concentrate on the "words" aspect of that practice.
The words we speak, as well as the ones we hear or expose ourselves to, can affect how we think - and vice versa. I would contend that if we want to grow in the Lord and to enhance our awareness of Him, we have to spend time in His presence in the Word and in worship. Worship is so beneficial for a number of reasons:
- The act of worship can help us to tame our tongues. As we enter His presence and speak words of praise and adoration to Him, we release a power that can help us to control our speech. One translation of Psalm 22:3 reminds us that God inhabits our praises.
- Worship can also play a part in renewing our minds. We need to be thinking Godly thoughts, and worship takes the focus off ourselves and helps to enable us to put the emphasis on Him.
- In worship, we also display an attitude of humility. We are exalting God when we worship, and the Bible promises that we will be lifted up spiritually as we humble ourselves before Him.
- And, worship can help sharpen our discernment. In an age where there is so much information coming toward us, and there are thought leaders who are attempting to manipulate us, we have to be trained to know good from evil. As we worship the Lord, increasing our awareness of God, we can learn to distinguish truth from error.
Faith Radio desires, as we've stated, to be a "trusted source" for you in your walk with Christ. Each day, there are scores of information sources that vie for your attention, and, as we've seen from the release of the "Twitter Files," false narratives have been created. We have to remain steadfast in the truth.
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