What Is Worship?

What is worship? I was singing the song today, “Here I Am To Worship,” and I thought of the great worshippers throughout the world and in history. I thought of Christians in poverty stricken countries without all the electronic gadgets and toys we are so distracted by; for whom a meal is a treasure and a full meal a dream, who face possible imprisonment or execution for their faith. And I wondered “What must their worship be like!” I thought of the great men of the church through the ages like William Tyndale, who as he was being fastened to the stake to be burned for heresy, shouted “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!” They strangled him at the stake to shut him up, then burned his dead body, but his words were heard around the world and even today. What kind of a worshipper was he? How passionate was his heart when he would go into the closet for prayer? And when I present myself before the Lord, and sing the words “Here I Am To Worship,” do I even do justice to my prayer?

As I walked down the hall thinking of this I saw the painting of Simon holding the infant Jesus in the Temple. I saw the lines in his face, and the anguished joy bringing tears to his cheeks as he held in his very arms, the Light of the World. Worship in one sense is to see God for Who He is, and to be changed by what we see. Yes, it is even more than that, but how must Simon have been changed by that experience? What were his prayers like afterwards, before the Lord finally took him home, (for as he said in that moment “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation”)

How does my worship, especially my private worship, fill up the measure of that very word “Worship?”