Worship

Worship

Prayer is the desire to receive something. Worship is to give something: to give honor and praise to Him whom we worship, combined with a deep acknowledgment of our own impotence and His unlimited and exalted power.

The “Lord’s Prayer,” as it is called, begins with prayer and ends with worship.

Psalm 30:6-7: “Now in my prosperity I said, ‘I shall never be moved.’ Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong; You hid Your face, and I was troubled.” David knew that all his strength was by God’s grace and that he could not prevail without Him, yet he was not always mindful of it. As soon as God hid His face from him, he realized that he was dust, and he worshiped.

1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us plainly that there is no such thing as absolute victory for any person. Every victory we gain occurs because we are never tempted above our ability to bear it, because God is very exact and faithful in seeing to it that we are not tempted above what we are able to bear. If He did not weigh our temptations, we would be tempted above what we are able to bear and all of us would fall. Acknowledging and remembering this calls forth worship from us, as for example at the end of the letter of Jude: “To God . . . be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.” And in Revelation 7:12: “Wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” Rev. 7:12.

It is very important to take note of Job when he was told of the destruction of his children together with his house and his goods. He did not pray for anything at all, but fell down and worshiped. In acknowledgment of his own lowliness and God’s greatness, he did not want to meddle in what had happened. “Wisdom . . . be to our God forever and ever.”

It is just as important to worship without ceasing as it is to pray without ceasing.

We progress from praying for all manner of things for ourselves— without worshiping—to mainly worshiping.