The worship of God goes on and on. It will never stop. Whether terrestrially or celestially, it never ends. Those who are in relationship with God have the future glory of searching and finding out just who God is. He has revealed himself in wonderful ways but not entirely. 1 John 3:3 tells us that someday “we will see Him just as he is”. Isn’t that exciting!
Worship goes on because of the greatness of God. We don’t stop worship because we stop singing! To do so is to take our gaze off the one who is so immeasurably beautiful.
I have heard leaders say, “That was a good worship time” or “Before the message, let’s have some worship”. Sadly, this gives an incomplete view of worship and blinds us to the nature of worship itself. Maybe it’s our language. Could it be that we are lazy with our words or could we be missing the fact that worship of the Almighty is more than singing? It’s forever and ever!
Some may see worship as religious duty, but true worship is what happens when we respond to who God is. We never leave his presence. He has promised that he would never leave us and the fact is we can’t be anywhere where he is not. (Psalm 139:7) When we, the finite creation, recognize that God is always with us, we can live in a perpetual state of worship. In other words, we choose to entertain thoughts of connection to His loving care. Psalm 23 tells us that the Lord is our shepherd who completes our lives and dismisses all needs, including the wants that masquerade as needs.
To the one who is worshiping “forever and ever”, temptations to fear or to be discouraged are met with the acknowledgment of God’s presence. The apostle Paul spoke of the wonderful presence of God that is with each believer when he said “who will separate us from the love of Christ?” He goes on to say that, “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
God doesn’t just send his love from a distance, wishing us the best. He is with us Himself! The Creator is with us! That alone can cause us to be in a continual state of worship. Then we move on to see how he intimately shows us his favour. No matter what difficulty we face, we are facing it with the one who is not intimidated by anything.
King David wrote; “Every day I will bless You and I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and highly praised and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of Your majesty and on Your wonderful works, I will meditate”. (Psalm 145:2-5) Did you catch it? “forever and ever”. David knew worship was not just singing for 20 minutes Sunday morning because he meditated – on what? – on the glorious splendour of God’s majesty and his wonderful works.
We should not be surprised with what happens when worship is a lifestyle. Firstly, we are changed. We experience peace in all situations. And, secondly, we can be assured that God is pleased with the place we make for him in our lives.
Worship God “forever and ever”. After all, he is with us forever and ever! We appreciate your Comments