#DailyDevotion What Kind Of Worship Does God Want?

Psalm 50:7-23 ⁷“Listen, My people, and I will speak; listen, Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God! ⁸I do not criticize you for your sacrifices, for regularly bringing Me your burnt offerings. ⁹But I need not take a bull from your homes or a male goat from your folds, ¹⁰since all the animals in the forest are Mine and the cattle on the hills by the thousand. ¹¹I care for every bird in the hills, and everything stirring in the field is present before Me. ¹²If I were hungry, I need not tell you because the world is Mine and everything in it. ¹³Do I eat the meat of bulls or drink the blood of goats? ¹⁴Bring God your thanks as a sacrifice, and do for the most high God what you vowed. ¹⁵Call Me in time of trouble! When I rescue you, you should honor Me.” ¹⁶But God tells the wicked: “What business is it of yours to recite My laws and talk about My covenant? ¹⁷You hate to be corrected, and toss My words behind you. ¹⁸When you see a thief, you want to be with him and share the life of adulterers. ¹⁹You let your mouth talk evil, and your tongue plans deceit. ²⁰You sit and talk against your brother, slandering your own mother’s son. ²¹You do this, and should I say nothing? You plan to destroy; should I be like you? I will correct you and lay it before your eyes. ²²Consider this, you who forget God, or I’ll tear you in pieces and no one will rescue you. ²³If you bring your thanks as a sacrifice, you can honor Me. If you set your life in order, I will have you drink your fill of God’s salvation.”

Well, the LORD is in a little better mood here than elsewhere where he says in Amos 5, ²¹“I hate and despise your festivals and take no delight in your meetings. ²²Even if you bring Me burnt offerings and food offerings, I will not accept them; or your fat animals as peace offerings, I won’t look at them.” Mind you Amos is a bit later. Psalm 50 is from Asaph, the same era as David the king. What we can see here though is the LORD’s idea of worship is different from ours or rather, He wants our attitude towards worship to be different and well he wants us to be different as well.

The first charge against them is their apparent belief that YHWH, the LORD is like other gods. People thought their gods needed to be fed or drink the blood of animals, children and virgins before they would do anything for you. The LORD tells us here he doesn’t need any of that. He doesn’t even need our worship (like the aliens on one scifi show where they fed off the worship of others). If the LORD wanted to eat a bull, a sheep, a goat, a child or a virgin, he would just take it. Everything in creation is his. He wouldn’t tell us to bring the offering for him and to him.

You see, worship is for our benefit not his. We would do well to remember this. People often act like they’re doing something big for God by going to Church on Sunday and dressing up and yes, even putting fat wads of cash in the offering plate (the Church needs your offerings to operate not God, though he honors it if given with the right intentions). The part of worship where we offer to the LORD our sacrifices of offerings, praise and thanksgiving, is still for our benefit not his. It is a spiritual need for us in particular to offer to God praise and thanksgiving for all his benefits to us. He wants us to call upon him in the day of trouble. He wants us to keep our promises (vows) because he keeps his. He wants us to live according to his will. He doesn’t want us to use our worship as a cover for the evil we do. He will forgive us for Christ’s sake though when we turn to him with a broken and contrite spirit. This is the worship he wants from us.

Heavenly Father, give us a true spirit of worship which offers you thanksgiving, calls upon you in trouble, and lives a life according to your will. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.