Last night’s sermon continued the series on ‘Everyday Church’, this time looking at the topic of ‘everyday worship’. By studying Psalm 34, we learned more about whole-life worship, as defined by Rom 12:1, yielding everything we have and are to God: ‘Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.’
Everyday worship: not defined by circumstances
Ps 34 urges us to bless and extol God at all times and is so positive we might be forgiven for thinking it was written when David was living in favourable times. The heading makes clear that this was not so; the psalm was written by David ‘when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.’ The historical background to the psalm is found in 1 Samuel 21 and shows us David fleeing from King Saul, who was determined to kill him, and forced to hid in enemy territory, living like a fugitive, living amongst foreign kings who did not trust him, resorting to feigning insanity as the only tactic he can think of which will preserve his life. In those difficult, unfavourable circumstances, he makes a determined choice to rejoice and to boast in God, rather than wallowing in misery and moaning at the difficulties he is facing. Outward circumstances do not have to determine our spiritual response: as Rend Collective say in their song ‘Joy’: ‘pain will not define us; joy will re-ignite us.’ When we are faced with conflicting emotions, we have to decide who and what to believe. When circumstances tell us one thing and God tells us something which is directly contrary to what the circumstances are telling us, we have a choice: believe the visible or trust in God. David chooses to trust in God, focussing on God’s ability to deliver, refusing to be defined by circumstances, but only being defined by God.
Everyday worship: dependent on God
Everyday worship is dependent on who God is. Worship is rooted in God’s character. The reason we don’t have to be defined by circumstances is because God is completely independent of the circumstances of our lives. He is above and beyond the circumstances which may seem to shape us or hem us in. He is a God who can deliver out of adversity. (Ps 34:7) He is good and full of blessing. (Ps 34:8) David reflects that ‘the lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who fear the Lord lack no good thing.’ (Ps 34:10) God is ever-vigilant and ever-aware: ‘The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry.’ (Ps 34:15) He is able to hear when the righteous cry out and He doesn’t just hear: He delivers us. (Ps 34:17)
This principle of focussing on God rather than on circumstances was ever present in David’s life. When the Amalekites, enemies of God, raided the Negev and Ziklag and took captive the women and everyone else in Ziklag, both young and old (1 Sam 30:2), David and his army knew sorrow and despair. David faced opposition not only from the Amalekites but from his own men who talked of stoning him, but his strategy was to encourage himself in God and thereby find strength. (1 Sam 30:7) Ultimately, worship is a choice we make. Matt Redman reminds us ‘And when the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”’ (‘Blessed Be Your Name’, Matt Redman) Kutless remind us ‘Through the best, through the worst, Jesus, we choose: we will worship You.’ (‘We Will Worship’, Kutless) Worship cannot be left to those days when we feel like worshipping, when things are going well for us and God seems eminently real and close to us. Everyday worship happens every day simply because we make it happen through an act of our wills. (see Ps 27:8, Ps 57:8, Ps 91:2)
Everyday worship: done with others
Ps 34 also teaches us the importance of corporate worship as part of our everyday worship. Whilst faith is personal and individual, David reminds us ‘Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name together!’ (Ps 34:3) Eugene Peterson says ‘The whole life, the complete life, cannot be lived with haughty independence. Our goal cannot be to not need anyone.’ (‘Run With The Horses’, P 164) Much of the psalm is written to other people and reminds them of the benefits of praising God (see Ps 34:7, 9, 10, 17, 22) As we come together in worship, our whole focus is turned to God and we are able to understand more of the bigger picture; as we pause from the busyness of everyday life to ‘be still and know that I am God’ (Ps 46:10), as we deliberately and consciously take our eyes off ourselves and look to God, we put ourselves in a place where we invite God to come and search us, to speak to us, to reveal more of Himself to us.