According to archeology, humans have been worshiping for as long as we have been in existence.
With the invention of civilization between four to five thousand years ago, signs of worship were left in abundance.
In the culture from where Abram was called out, there were many temples, altars and idols.
When Leonard Wooley unearthed the altar to the Ziggurat of Ur, he wrote that the soot level was so deep, representing an unthinkable amount of blood sacrifices.
Based upon all the artifacts, their existence was centered around religion and the worship of their gods.
When one thinks of the act of worship several things automatically come to mind, visions of bowing down, kneeling, raising of the hands, and maybe, singing, dancing and clapping to music offered up to God.
When I was a part of the Christian church, I enjoyed the praise and worship segment of the church service.
In our charismatic church, it was believed that praise and worship would usher in the presence of the Lord to get people’s hearts ready to receive the message that the pastor was about to deliver.
After Buddy and I were called out of the church, God began to teach us about true worship.
At that time, we had several friends who we hung out with, and although we had left the church, they were still attending. These were friends who had been at our wedding and that we had considered to be as close as brothers.
Two of them, like Buddy, were musicians and we all felt that God had called us to form a band and perform music together.
One day as the guys were jamming on their acoustic guitars, the presence of the Lord descended upon our group. The feeling was so intense it was almost tangible.
As we were basking in this amazing presence, one of the guys suddenly changed directions to lead the group in praise and worship music that he commonly played at church.
It was very disheartening, because immediately, the cloud of God’s presence lifted. It completely vanished.
Buddy and I discussed it that night and we decided to address the topic with our friends the next day.
Buddy spoke while I listened. He said, “hey guys, the Lord’s presence was there already, you did not have to switch over to praise and worship music.”
They seemed to be in agreement, and the next day when we were scheduled to get together for a practice, they were no call no show.
They were completely offended and that was the end of the musical “project.”
We were heart broken. However, we knew that we had done the right thing to be honest with them.
So, our paths parted that day for good. We kept walking away from religion and they dove deeper into the Christian church, one becoming a youth pastor and the other a praise and worship leader.
What they didn’t realize is that we were on the threshold of entering into the purest form of worship that day, and by trying to put reins on it and force it into an organized agenda, it vanished.
It wasn’t until recently that I discovered what worship truly means. I had experienced it throughout the years, but I didn’t know how to define it until now.
The worship of God is not a religious act, but rather a spiritual one.
Christ told the Samaritan woman by the well that God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
The word, worship, that Christ was referring to is the Hebrew word, shachah, and within its letters are a fountain of wealth.
It is comprised of the letter, sheen, which is a pictograph of teeth, and bears the meaning to press, crush, consume, or destroy.
The next letter is, chet, which is a pictograph of a place of protection, a sanctuary, a refuge.
The last letter is hey, a pictograph of outstretched arms, which bears the meaning to look up and follow directions.
So, putting all the letters together. Worship occurs when:
Sheen- the hardened outer shell of a person is cracked open and discarded and the inner goodness is preserved. Think: getting the chaff off of the wheat.
Christ taught that the love of religion is like chaff. The wheat is good, but the chaff is good for nothing but to be thrown into the fire.
This is a very painful process of pressing in to find the truth, seeking diligently, self-reflection, looking in the mirror, seeing the ugly truth, letting go, changing the mind.
Chet- Entering into God’s sanctuary, a place of indescribable peace, sense of well-being, and all-encompassing love.
Hey- A person’s outstretched arms to God, like a little child with a willing heart to please the Father.
Therefore, worship can be defined as a spiritual willingness to let the Lord crack your heart and remove the junk, to enter into the peaceful sanctuary of God’s presence, and to possess a fervent desire to listen to the voice of the Father and do what He asks you to do.
So, in thinking back on that day that our friends got offended, maybe they were not able to enter into the sanctuary of God’s presence because of the religious chaff that was on their hearts.
At the moment, they did the best thing that they knew to do, the thing that they had been taught to do in church.