Human Thought for Heavenly Worship

“What’s God done for you? After what you’ve been through, how can you still praise him?” I have heard that question so many times from my non-believing friends since the time that my mom died. They all believe that since this God of mine took my mother away while I was only 15 that I should hate Him for it. They believe that I should have turned my back on Him when He allowed me to watch the cancer slowly desolate her. It showed me their faulty knowledge of my God, and it also made me think, why do I worship? What’s the point? It even made me doubt for a time as I wrestled with that question and my anger at Him. Even through this time however, I never turned away from Him, even though at times I wasn’t sure why. Now however, I know that there are so many reasons to, and my human mind will never exhaust all of the reasons to.

                 So why worship?

                 Because I am nothing and He is everything.

                 As someone who has dealt with depression and even attempted suicide, I know what it’s like to come to the end of myself, to see myself as utterly despondent and needy and having seemly no reason to continue on. However, even though I tried to end it, God didn’t let me. I woke up. I have realized that I am worthless; nothing, especially in comparison to an almighty, perfect and matchless God. Yet He gives me worth. He has loved me, a nothing, so much that He redeemed me and gave my life through His son.

                 Because He is our Creator.

                 How many times have I found myself worshipping the created things, and yet not taking the time to worship the Creator of those things? He didn’t just create a monotone world with very little. He created a world of color and beauty. He has given us everything we could ever need and so much more and that alone is a reason to bow before Him.

                 Because He desires a relationship with us.

                 God didn’t just create us and leave us to fend for ourselves; He wants us to know Him. He has given us the Word to reveal Himself, and even in that, given us His personal name, Yahweh, to call Him by. He is not some far off deity that many cultures worship and He does not need to be manipulated. He allows us to come before Him in confidence and to talk to Him openly. Through Christ, we are allowed to stand boldly before God in a way that we could have never before and that is amazing.

                 Because He never changes, He never has and He never will.

                 This particular reason became quite clear to me soon after my mom died. My life will change, and so will my heart, but God will not. He is consistent and because He never changes, neither will what He says. He isn’t an indecisive being and He does not change His mind. My mother dying did not change who God was. His taking of her did not make Him less trustworthy or less powerful. It did not make Him a villain or someone that was worthy of my hatred. It did not make Him anything less than what He had been before.

                 Because God is powerful, all-knowing and all-wise.

                 God is capable of anything. He has the power to bring about any disaster or any miracle. He also has knowledge greater than the universe and He knows how to use it. There is never any doubting in God’s mind and nothing ever surprises Him. The only questions he asks are the ones to make us search ourselves.

                 Because God is good.

                 This one ties in with the last point quite a bit. If the all-powerful, all-knowing and all-wise God is also good than we need to trust Him. He doesn’t sit on His heavenly throne, wringing his proverbial hands and wondering what He is going to do in some situations. He is never out of control. Therefore, when he allows difficulties into our lives, we need to believe that He is bringing things about for His purposes. It isn’t easy to believe this in the moment, but looking back in life, God always has a plan. We may not see it this side of life, but that’s why we need to trust that in His eternal self, He has things under control.

                 So why worship?

                 The ultimately reason to worship God is this; because God is God. He is the great I AM. He is everything when we are nothing. He is higher than anything our finite minds can conjure up and He will always be that. He has always existed and will never die. He is infinite, we are finite. He is holy, we are sinners. He is good, we are evil. He is everything that we are not and that alone is reason enough to worship.