Day 215, 3rd April: 1 Chronicles, Romans and Psalms
Worship & Awe
By Emma Atkinson, St Mary Magdalene
Todays Readings Are:
1 Chronicles 15:1-16:36
Romans 16:1-27
Psalm 90:11-17
Today’s readings are full of worship and awe; reading them can inspire us to celebrate and praise God. But what is worship? Is it simply singing our favourite worship songs, dancing a conga line to lively music or playing our drums as loud as possible?
David’s attitude when bringing the ark to Jerusalem is amazing. It’s not a simple task, he goes all out; The Levites are instructed to appoint singers and musicians to play joyful songs, seven bulls and seven rams were sacrificed and David, the Levites carrying the ark, Kenaniah and all the singers were dressed up to the nines in robes of fine linen. During the procession there were songs, shouting, cymbals, trumpets, horns… David pulled out all the stops. Why? Because the ark was symbolic – it was God’s presence and when we’re in the presence of God we have to respond.
I love times of worship but sometimes forget who I am worshipping. It’s easy to shrink God down and lose the awe and the majesty. I forget He is not only my father, but a king and creator of everything who brought stars into being just by breathing. God isn’t something that can be boxed up nice and neatly, He is fierce and powerful whilst still being all loving.
The reading from Psalm 90 reminds us of the power and wrath of God. When we worship do we remember who God is? Do we praise and thank Him for all He is or do we get caught up in all the excitement and enjoyment of a good song? Paul tells us that we need to be careful of obstacles (Romans 16:17) that can distract us from God so we need to learn from David. He remained focused on worshipping God and refused to be distracted by people like Michal who despised David because of his commitment to God. We see from chapter 16 that David remembers the essence of worship – giving thanks to God. But in the presence of God David didn’t worship quickly, he gave everything he had.
The challenge for us is to remember who we are worshipping. Will you forget all the distractions around you to focus on God and praise Him with everything you have?
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Today’s picture was taken by…
Naomi Kendal . Thanks Naomi!
If you’d like to take your own picture to potentially be featured on the blog, then get your Soul Survivor Bible in One Year, and take a picture of yourself – and your Bible – at some interesting or colourful location. Then email it to us at editor@soulsurvivor.com.
The pictures will need to be a pretty good resolution (we use 640px by 360 px so at least as big as that), landscape photos work best and if you include the day of the reading in the picture then make sure you send it to us a good few days before that reading, so we have time to include it in that day’s post! We’ll credit all photographers!
