“I Will Deliver You,

And You Will Honor Me.”

“Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel: I am God, your God. I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

“Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

Psalm 50:7-15

When you worship do you look at it as entertainment, how good the sermon was or how good the choir sang?

That’s not why we go to church. What matters most takes place within the hearts of the congregation. We should leave a worship service asking whether we communed with God and was God pleased with what happened.

God took pains to specify details of animal sacrifice for the ancient Israelites in their worship. What He wanted was their praise and obedience.

By focusing on the externals of worship, we too miss the point” The Lord is interested in a sacrifice of the heart, an internal attitude of submission and thanksgiving. The goal of worship is nothing less than to meet and please our God.

At the heart of worship is worship from the heart.

Our Daily Bread – February 20, 2011