Worship and Pride…

 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

7 For He is our God,

And we are the people of His pasture,

And the sheep of His hand.—Psalm 95:6-7

These verses stopped me as I read them this morning.  I confess to feeling a little uncomfortable bowing down to my God in both public and private. It makes me feel exposed and targeted. It is easy for me to lift my hands in praise, but to bow my heart and physically kneel down hits my pride.  As I think on this my conscience is pricked, and the Spirit’s conviction fills me.  

Surprisingly, I am more comfortable with bowing down in a public community of believers than in my own private devotions where I might be seen by those who are close to me. Both feelings, I am sure, are rooted in pride. 

If I am honest, that kind of complete surrender both embarrasses and scares me.  It displays a kind of weakness which makes me feel vulnerable and scared.  It exposes my heart for all to see and shows everyone where I have placed my trust. 

Do I really want to place all of myself in His hands for the people who are closest to me to see?   Do I want them to see me in the lowly and humble position of a slave?  My heart does, but my flesh recoils, rebels and holds back.

My spirit’s reaction, is thankfully, the polar opposite of my fleshly one. My spirit, in seeing that kind of surrender, fills with a holy longing. It desires that kind of trust, courage and devotion to God because I want to be conformed to the image of His Son.   For I KNOW the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for my sake (and yours) He became poor, that through His poverty we might become rich.

This morning I am thankful for the Spirit’s conviction. I am thankful for God’s forgiveness. I am thankful that God knows my heart…nothing about me surprises Him or causes Him to love me more or less.  I am thankful that in my weakness I can go boldly to His throne of grace to obtain mercy and grace to help in my time of need.  Jesus died for me when I was yet His enemy and He has promised to complete that good work He began in me. He will preserve me through this life and bring me home to heaven in His timing. 

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God—Hebrews 12:1-2

For He is our God." Oh, that is the sweetest of it all — "He is our God." Let lords and lands have what masters they will — let us obey and worship our own God!—Spurgeon