"The Worshipping Life" - a reflection on Psalm 84

Psalm 84 directs our thoughts to a complete and utter focus on God on a daily basis. The ability to so focus utterly on God comes from firstly putting our trust firmly in the God who can thoroughly meet our needs and draw us into a harmonious personal relationship. The result of this complete focus on God is an experience of joy. This is because life has purpose and now makes a whole lot of sense.

Trust leads to a comprehensive focus on God which in turn brings us joy. This is the worshipping life.

Wherever God is, that’s where I want to be! We shouldn’t just think of heaven here, because God through Jesus inhabited the earth, and still does through the Holy Spirit. God has chosen to make a home with us. Wherever God is moving, that’s where I want to go! Whatever God is involved in, that’s what I want to be involved in! I know about God’s abundant love and consistent faithfulness, and this is what I want to experience as much as I can.

The word “worship” is a contraction of ‘worth-ship’; thus our “worship” of God is based on the fact that God is most worthy of our praise. This is the underlying conviction of this psalm … that God deserves our worship and our total focus. Worship is coming out of ourselves and expressing our gratitude to God, along with restating our commitment to God’s purposes in our life and in the world. We can be released from all sorts of oppression by throwing ourselves into the enthusiastic worship of God.

As we can sense from verse 2a, this psalm was likely written by someone who couldn’t at the time attend formal worship like he had been able to previously. This writer, as a result of military aggression, could have been taken off into exile well away from his normal place of gathering. And he longed so much to attend worship again!

We sense here how much the psalmist missed it, and how much he desired to rejoin the company of worshippers. It is clear that he would do anything to be there! Yet, because his life was so focussed on God wherever he was, and in whatever situation he was in, knowing that God was never far away, he was still able to sing for joy (v.2b). And then there was the confidence that one day he will indeed be able to return. Trust, focus, joy … the worshipping life!

We know that God is everywhere, and we can worship God anytime and in any place. In fact it is not good for us to have any sort of ‘on again’ / ‘off again’ attitude to our worshipping life, whether we do this deliberately, or whether we find ourselves responding so negatively to certain places and circumstances that we simply drift away from worshipping God. Sundays might afford us the best and least busy opportunity for worship, yet this should not be separated from our other routines and interactions in life.

We should not create a great divide between those places we regard as ‘sacred’ and those we might regard as ‘much less sacred’ or ‘secular’ in terms of our worshipping life. We are only the one person and we should try to develop some consistency no matter where we are. So we take those special times of intimacy in God we have from personal prayer, Sunday worship and family devotional times into the everyday working world, and live out the life of Jesus there too!

Yet, as we have already identified, this psalm also gives the sense of gathering with other people in a special assembly, where the voices join together in worship and praise. This gathering is so very valuable and should be highly treasured. The writer here didn’t merely want to be there, but conceded that he needed to be within the assembly of God’s people for his own well-being. He would continue to miss out on so much if he wasn’t.

In mind here would be the whole church experience of mutual welcoming, sharing the stories of life, opening the scriptures and discussing them, giving to the needs of others, intercessory prayer, and singing out in joy. This whole package potentially brings the encouragement that we all need to survive.

There should be a place for everyone in the church gathering, whether sparrow or swallow, with each of their young, somewhere for all to find a place of comfort. It is through the sharing of our diversity of background, culture, life experience, personality and gifting that we will all have the chance to grow. Here we find new avenues of support that allow us to strengthen our resolve.

So whereas, worship is a whole of life matter, gathering to worship God together week by week and in small groups during the week actually gives us the fuel and the energy we need to worship and serve God in the rest of the week. Although we can have a blessed sense of worship individually, this is very difficult to maintain without the habit of regularly gathering in bigger numbers. We need to draw strength, encouragement and wisdom from each other so that we can effectively face the challenges of the week.

As we have said, the goal of course is to live a worshipping life 24/7. This is where we are wholly conscious of God’s presence all the time, and we have a reverent and honouring attitude to God and all others in everything we do. This is where when decisions need to be made – big or small – we are focussed on God’s availability to give us guidance. This is where every interaction we have is actually seen as an opportunity for ministry. That’s the worshipful life – trust, focus on God, joy! Yet, how ever are we going to get enough means together to pull this off, unless the followers of Jesus band together and pool their resources?

But of course it still doesn’t just happen for us because we simply walk through the doors of a church. There is far more to it than that. Let’s look at verse 4. If we say we “live” there in that house, this means that this is where we spend a good deal of our time – this is where we come home to. So, to truly “live” in God’s house (as we have it in verse 4), we would have to see this place of worship, and gathering within it, as a norm, as central, as a priority, as spending time at ‘home’.

Therefore coming to this gathering is not a matter of whim, nor even decision-making, but a matter of a very good habit. It should be just the most natural thing to gather and worship corporately; it should be instinctive, part of who we are. Then there are two other areas through which we would get the most out of worship. Any guesses???

The first of these is to come with expectancy. If you come without expecting anything good to happen, then it is likely you will be disappointed. However if you come looking for blessings you are very likely to find them, even if they come from unexpected places.

The second of these is the area of engagement. You will need to deliberately seek out God, concentrate on the scriptures readings, listen and participate in the prayers, and engage with the interests, issues and needs being carried by others. And a vital part of this process of engagement is to honestly and courageously bring your own stuff to the table to open the possibility of gaining support.

A worship service should not be a performance, but rather an event in which all those in attendance can participate and engage. We should therefore come with thoughts of how we might make a contribution to the experience of others. For as we read in verses 5-7, our experience of worship should be thoroughly refreshing, like when springs of water reach previously dry places.

Worship can generally be described in many ways:

· Worship is seeking, experiencing and adoring God.
· Worship is discovering, knowing and following Jesus.
· Worship is receiving, developing and sharing the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
· Worship is listening, learning and applying the truths of the Bible.
· Worship is being sorrowful at the state of the world, but also prayerful that things might be different.
· Worship is being reflective on the cost of God’s grace, but also celebratory about the freedom it brings.
· Worship (that rises above circumstances) broadly impacts those who are looking for hope and purpose, allowing people, everywhere we go, to experience God for themselves.

I close with thoughts about two of my favourite verses in scripture – verses 10 & 11 of this psalm. To live in God’s company and participate in the church is much better than seeking after pleasures that lead nowhere, and bring nothing of ultimate value. Simple and unremarkable service in God’s Kingdom is much preferred to being the centre of attention in the attractions of the world where one’s life is wasted. This psalmist could have experimented in the “tents of wickedness” but clearly judged them to be wanting, impoverished of meaning and basically destructive.

God is like the sun and a shield, bringing both light into situations of darkness, and protection into feelings of fear. We can live as a person that God is literally smiling upon. As I walk in God’s ways, and as I follow Jesus in this life, I won’t lack for anything that I really need. It is good to stand out as one who leads … a worshipping life – with trust, focus on God, obvious joy!