Have you ever been to a rock concert or a Garth Brook’s show, maybe a
book signing by Stephen King or Tom Clancy, or by chance waiting for Tom Cruise
to emerge from a local restaurant? Preferably not, however, if you were, you no
doubt would witness uninhibited adoration being cast upon this world’s stars
by countless fans of all ages. At
music concerts people sing with boisterous emotion, sway with the melody, clap
to the beat and raise their hands, jump and shout praise to their favorite
singer. At book signings fans wait
nervously in line for hours, just to spend only a minute with someone they
admire and idolize, all for an autograph and a handshake.
I’m sure you’ve seen movie stars trying to make it through a crowd of
admirers reaching out to hug, kiss or even just to touch their hero, many
crying, shaking or even fainting with the excitement.
This is how humans act in a close encounter with someone they are
completely devoted and infatuated with. These
celebrities have never as much as given these people a drive or bought them
dinner, yet they are totally enraptured by them.
Now it appears to me, this type of affection should be reserved only for
someone who has done so much for you, it completely changes your whole life, to
the point of saving your soul. If
there existed someone like this, should it not be incumbent on us to exalt Him
in at least an equal manner?
I would imagine, almost everyone reading this article believes his or her
salvation is thanks to a loving heavenly Father, who sent His only begotten son
to die in our stead. Why then do we
not praise Him the way the world does its gods? Why do we not worship Him the way He has told us to?
Are we too shy to show others what He means to us or are we ashamed to
express our emotions, lest others might disapprove?
Is it scriptural to “let loose” in service?
Would it be wrong to say many of us should “lighten up a bit”?
Is anyone happy?
James asks, “Is anyone happy? Let
him sing songs of praise” (Jas. 5:13 NIV). We should be happy; it’s a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Yahshua was not ashamed, He said, “ I will declare thy name unto my
brethren, in the midst of the assembly will I sing praise unto thee” (Heb.
2:12).
Yahweh Himself will sing for joy over us: “Yahweh your God is with you,
He is mighty to save. He will take
great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you
with singing” (Zep. 3:17 NIV). The
last clause in other bible versions brings out His delight more clearly: “He
will exult over you with loud singing” (RV).
“He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy” (NASV).
“He will dance with shouts of joy for you as on a day of festival” (JB).
This is our creator, the sustainer of the entire universe who
takes great delight in us and shouts for joy over His children. If He can be this exuberant for us, we should not hesitate to
be more so toward Him.
Looking into His word we clearly see what He expects from us: “Praise
ye Yahweh [HalleluYah]. Praise God
in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his
excellent greatness. Praise him
with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
Praise him with the timbrel [tambourine] and dance [pipe]:
praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding
cymbals. Let every thing that hath
breath praise Yahweh. HalleluYah”
(Ps. 150).
We, whom He has revealed so much truth to, ought to be bubbling over with
praise. We should be the children
with a reputation for exultation, jubilation and rejoicing.
The children of Yahweh should be filled with delight, joy and happiness.
Did He not give us His Holy Spirit?
Do we not have the fruit of the Spirit?
Should we not joint with Peter and encourage all to “rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Pe. 1:8)?
We are of a select few who know His name, let us do as the psalmist
suggests, “Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious” (Ps.
66:2). David wrote in Psalm 98:4:
“Make a joyful noise unto Yahweh, all the earth: make a loud noise, and
rejoice, and sing praise.” There
was no holding back David from showing how he felt about his Creator.
What limit should we impose on the magnitude of this praise?
Looking at Ezra 3:11 we might advise no limit on genuine, heartfelt
praise. For we read that “all the
people shouted with a great shout, when they praised Yahweh.”
What we must do is “Sing praises to Yahweh, sing praises: sing praises
unto our King, sing praises (Ps 47:6).
Yahshua said, “Yahweh is [a] Spirit: and they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth” (Jo. 4:24). Far to many of us physically worship, going through the same
routine without surrendering our spirit to His, that our worship may be pleasing
to Him (See Ro. 8:14-27). Hebrew
13:15 points out that praise is a constant: “By him therefore let us offer the
sacrifice of praise to Yahweh continually, that is, the fruit of [our] lips
giving thanks to his name.” Yahweh
values praise far more then He values physical sacrifice (Ps. 40:6; 69:30-31
& He. 10:5-9).
Lift hands
Is there more to worship then singing and shouting?
In what other ways can we convey our feelings toward our Saviour, as we
praise Him? His word is always the
first place we should look to witness how others worshipped.
Again we turn to David for direction, we find him praying in Psalm 63:4,
“Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.”
We see that David sings, shouts, leaps and dances (2Sa. 6:16), and also
raises his hands in worship. You
can’t help getting the impression David is very pleased with Yahweh.
Once more he writes: “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as
incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice” (Ps 141:2).
Adam Clarke’s* comments on this verse are helpful: “Why, as he could
not worship according to the letter of the law (he was on the run from Saul), he
will worship God according to the spirit; then prayer is accepted in the place
of incense; and the lifting up of his hands, in gratitude and self-dedication to
God.” What true spiritual worship
is, should be clear from what we learn from David, someone Yahweh called “a
man after mine own heart” (Ac. 13:22).
Solomon prayed “kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to
heaven” (1Ki. 8:54). In
Lamentations 3:41 Jeremiah shows us that humility is attained, in part, as well
as forgiveness, by raising our hands and heart to Yahweh, “Let us lift up our
heart with our hands unto the Mighty One in the heavens.”
Ezra, in sorrow, shame and fear for Israel’s iniquities said, “I fell
upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto Yahweh my God” (Ezra 9:5).
Israel would not have prevailed against Amalek had not Moses held his
hands up to Yahweh (Ex. 17:11). This
is what the whole congregation did after returning from their captivity in
Babylon, “And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their
hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped Yahweh with [their] faces to
the ground” (Ne. 8:6). In Psalms
we read over and over again of fervent prayer and worship, undertaken with hands
raised to Yahweh, (see 28:2; 88:9; 134:2).
In the New Testament as well, we find Paul encouraging all to lift our
hands in prayer: “I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy
hands, without wrath and doubting” (1Ti. 2:8).
In many ways our hands represent our capabilities and what we have
accomplished. Strong hands imply
power (Ne. 2:18), whereas weak hands represent our weaknesses (Ezra 4:4).
Our hands are synonymous with sin (Job 11:14, Ps. 7:3) or righteousness
(2Sa. 22:21, Ps. 18:20). By washing
our hands it symbolizes removing guilt, (Ps. 73:13, Mt. 27:24, Ja. 4:8).
We also see that Yahweh worked His miracles and imparted His Holy Spirit
through the hands of the apostles (Ac. 5:12, 8:18 and 14:3).
Today we’re to worship in spirit and lifting our hands enables us to
open-up to Yahweh’s presence, surrender to His will and embrace His love.
Clapping
You often see people today clapping their hands to the rhythm of music,
to the excitement of a sporting event or to display their approval of a
particular performance. Clapping
one’s hands is an outlet for built-up emotion and happiness.
Let’s now read Psalm 47:1: “O clap your hands, all ye people; shout
unto God with the voice of triumph.” By
clapping and shouting unto Yahweh, we release our joy for what He has done for
us, it enables us to demonstrate to all, the great enthusiasm, passion and
affection we feel for our highly exalted, gracious Father.
As an example for us the scriptures show how the earth itself feels
toward Yahweh: “Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful
together” (Ps 98:8). Turn to
Isaiah. 55:12 where we see the day when the earth will worship with us in peace:
“For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and
the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the
field shall clap their hands.” Clapping
your hands is not limited to charismatic groups only, but can and should be
enjoyed by all those who love to worship.
He can look elsewhere
On the day Yahshua entered triumphantly into Jerusalem and the multitude
“began to rejoice and praise Yahweh with a loud voice,” He was told by the
Pharisees “rebuke thy disciples.” Yahshua
said, “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would
immediately cry out” (Lu. 19:37-40). John the Baptist also knew Yahweh required worshippers, for
he told the Pharisees and Sadducees, “I say unto you, that Yahweh is able of
these stones to raise up children unto Abraham” (Mt. 3:9). Our Almighty Creator is not dependent on us for worship.
If need be, He will raise up out of the ground those who will worship
Him. We have Yahshua’s word on
that and He has told us, “the true worshippers shall worship the Father
in spirit and in truth,” this is what we must start to do, “for the Father seeketh
such to worship him” (Jo. 4:23). If
He doesn’t receive it from us, whom He has shown so much truth to, He is sure
to turn to others.
We are often times too stiff, dry and self-conscience.
We should be more like children, uninhibited by our pride and vanity,
which is carnal and prevents us from worshipping spiritually.
Read what Yahshua said to the chief priests and scribes: “Out of the
mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise” (Mt. 21:15).
Hear what Yahweh says, “The people whom I formed for myself that they
might declare my praise” (Is. 43:21 RV).
Let us not be stifled by the “chief priests and scribes” of our day,
and in no way should we allow our flesh to subdue the joy the Holy Spirit has
placed within.
JB- Jerusalem Bible
NASV- New American Standard Version
NIV- New International Version
RV- Revised Version
*Adam Clarke, Clarke’s Commentary, vol. 2, pg. 670.