A King Worthy to be Praised
Imagine that you live in a time of kings and queens. You are nothing more than a humble peasant. You have heard of the King that rules over your land, but you’re pretty sure he knows nothing of who you are. You live a simple life amongst your friends and family until one day, your livelihood is under attack. An outside force has invaded your village and is set on destruction. Though you want to put up a fight, you know you are not strong enough. You see the gravity of your situation and accept the tragic fate.
But then, the King arrives. He knew of the attack and though he owed you nothing, he risked his own life to protect you. To save you. He and his army come in at full force and drive the invader out. He defeats the darkness that threatened to destroy you and rescues you from certain death.
There was no reason for the King to save you other than the fact that he chose you to be a part of his kingdom and he loves those he rules over.
The King eventually departs, victory in hand, making his way back to his throne. After he leaves, the village is buzzing with talks of what just happened.
“Our king saved us! He is victorious!”
“He has freed us and rescued us!”
“What an amazing king we have!”
Maybe you go to a neighboring village and you just can’t help yourself saying “Did you hear what he did? Oh my gosh we were going to die. DIE! But then he swooped in saved us. Amazing!”
Maybe you find yourself in the quiet moments you have to yourself thinking about that incredible day. Maybe in thinking about that day, you think about what it means for you – you’ve been saved! The King loved you enough to rescue you. Your love for this King grows even more as you dwell on how unbelievable it all is.
And then you get a letter, inviting you to have an audience with the king himself. He has invited you into his throne room. What an honor! You make the journey to see him and are taken aback by how beautiful his kingdom is. You walk up majestic steps and are led into a grandiose hall that speaks to how great and awesome your king is. And then you see him – the king seated on his throne. Simply put, he is beautiful. A stunning array of glory and majesty is all around him. You look at this king and remember how truly helpless you were. You were destined for death. Until he stepped in and saved you! For no other reason than the goodness of his heart and his love for his people.
You approach him and fall on your knees. You open your mouth to speak and what do you say?
“I am free! I am rescued! You love me so much! I can’t believe how much you love me.”
You turn the guards “Look how much he loves me! I am truly enough. I’m accepted into his kingdom. I am strong and belong here! Isn’t this awesome!?”
As you turn to leave the throne room, you miss the disappointment on the king’s face; you miss the confusion on the guard’s faces. You walk back to your village elated by the chance to have spoken to your king, all the while not realizing the opportunity you’ve just missed out on.
Ok. No illustration is going to be perfect, but perhaps you see where I’m going with this. The story above seems a little ridiculous, right? It’s almost laughable watching someone who owes their life to this king, use the opportunity to have an audience with him, not to glorify and worship the king and who he is but to lift up himself and tell the king who they are.
Are the things they said wrong? Not at all! Isn’t it good to rejoice in those truths? Of course! But was it appropriate to dwell on that in front of the king himself? Eh, it certainly doesn’t seem like they read the room. They walked into the throne room shouting praises about how this rescue affected them and how transformed their life is because of it, all the while forgetting to praise and worship the king. They focused their worship on their own good and forgot to direct it to the one it was all about in the first place.
So yes, this is a bit ridiculous. Hopefully we can all see why.
So why do we do this with God?
Let’s restructure the story. Death and destruction wasn’t imminent, you were dead. The sentence of your death was sure. But then Jesus stepped in and BROUGHT YOU TO LIFE! He didn’t just save your life, he gave you life. He stepped down from His throne and rescued you from death because of His love for you. He is good and perfect and the only one that could have changed your life.
The aftermath of this rescue is a shock to the system. You find yourself telling others “Look at what my God did for me! Look at Him! Can you believe it? And guess what? He can do the same for you!” You seek quiet time to really learn about this good news and find yourself falling more and more in love with this God. You start to realize all the ramifications of what His work has done for you and your life starts to change. It’s a glorious hope to rest in, knowing that nothing in this world can destroy you because God has already won the biggest battle.
And then you are invited into the throne room of this King. What is the natural response? Worship! For Him! “God you are holy! You are so strong and everything I need! Look at the things you have done! I am not worthy but will love you all the days of my life. May your name be praised!”
As Christians, we have the invitation to worship always, whether that be coming together with other believers once a week and singing praises and studying His word together or in the quiet of your day reflecting on how amazing He is and letting that truth actively transform our actions, words and thoughts.
If this is the natural response, why is so much of our worship, corporal and individual, centered around us? Why do we come before Him and talk about ourselves? Why do we focused on our own lives, our own strength, our own victories when all of it pales in comparison to GOD? Worship in song is one of the biggest culprits of this self-centeredness. I can hardly listen to Christian radio these days because I find myself getting mad more often than not. Phrases like “I am who you say I am” take away from the actual I AM and who he is. Songs that say things like “Could you love someone like me?” make it seem that we think “Sure you say you’re love, but you have met ME. Look how terrible I am. Is your love really that strong?”
Why are we doing this? We are so focused on ourselves that we miss out on the opportunity to worship our King. To praise His name and His character and the work He has done. Is there a place to rejoice at the work He does in our lives? Absolutely! It is a wondrous thing! But I fear we have settled to worship in a way that puts ourselves at the center of the story and put God as a side note.
Let us worship our King! Let us praise HIS name and worship what HE has done. Let us not forget how truly miraculous salvation is! Our God is it. He is the ultimate everything – love, hope, peace, future. There will never be a moment where we run out of things to worship Him for because every characteristic He displays is infinite.
May our God be praised in everything we say and do and may our worship bring Him the glory He deserves!
