Women of Warren Vlog – True Worship

well hello ladies and good morning i hope that you've had a wonderful master's week for those of you who live in augusta we know it's such a busy time and um i just hope that it's been a great week for you and i know that this week is probably going to be busy getting your house back in order if you're out of town or just getting back in town and getting back into the routine of things but um this morning for our little devotion this actually this idea sort of came upon me um just because i was thinking about the resurrection and um you know the disciples and what they were and you know christ followers and what they were possibly thinking as jesus ascended into heaven and just not fully grasping or fully understanding what it is you know what what is actually happening and we do see um at the end of luke and we'll get into the full devotion here in a minute but um jesus does tell them at the end of luke and this is in chapter 24 he says this is what is written the messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at jerusalem you are witnesses of these things i am going to send you what my father has promised but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high and so of course he's talking about the holy spirit there but then it says right before he had said all of this he says then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures so there is this understanding but then after he ascends there is this worship that happens and so we're going to kind of do this backwards I want to think about what true worship is today and Luke 24 50 through 53 says when he that being Jesus had led them out of the vicinity of Bethany he lifted up his hands and blessed them while he was blessing them he left them and was taken up into heaven then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and they stayed continually at the temple praising God and so I don't know about you if you always think of worship as singing songs and praises that tends to be what we think of but it can also be struggle. It can also be not fully understanding and yet leaning in and trusting and so I want to kind of think about that thought today and this mainly came from I was scrolling on Instagram and Jordan Peterson he's a great speaker and teacher and just a deep thinker and he had this quote um talking about worship and what it truly means to worship and he pointed all the way back to jacob in the old testament wrestling with god and he said that's true worship true worship is wrestling with god and i thought that that was such an interesting um concept because in genesis if you want to read the whole account you can Genesis 32 verses 22 through 31 you see Jacob wrestle with God and he says I will not let go until you bless me and God blesses him and renames him Israel which means struggles with God and this is this true sign of worship that Jacob has and it made me then think and we're kind of jumping all over the Bible, but as we know, the Bible is all one clear, concise depiction of the character of God, and it made me think about Job. If there is one person or events that happens in the Bible, if there's one person who goes through things that shows what true worship is, it's Job. maybe aside from Christ on the cross of worship and surrender is probably the only other one that I can think of. But Job continuing to praise God and saying that he is good even in the midst of suffering. And so what I want to do is I want to look at Job 38 and chapters 38 and 39, but I'm going to read from Job 38 verses 1 through 12. And I just want you to listen to these words because again Jordan Peterson in his comment said something that has stuck with me he said never forget who you are wrestling with it is worship to worship to wrestle with God but don't forget who it is that you're wrestling with and that gave me pause because it can be very easy in the midst of trials and struggles and whatever it is you're going through life's not turning out the way you thought it would all of those things that you can i do this all the time i get where i'm wrestling with god but i'm forgetting who it is that i'm wrestling with and we are invited how great is god that we are invited to struggle with him we are invited to ask why and yet god can then point and say where were you at the beginning of earth where were you at the beginning of time and so i just want you to listen to this Again, like I said, it's Job 38 verses 1 through 12. And so, again, if you're driving or something, just let these words wash over you. And I just want you to remember that wrestling with God is a sign of worship, but we have to remember who it is that we are wrestling with. And so it says, Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said, Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man. I will question you, and you shall answer me. where were you when i laid the earth's foundation tell me if you understand who marked off its dimensions surely you know who stretched a measuring line across it on what were its footings set or who laid its cornerstone while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb when i made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness when i fixed its fixed limits for it and and set its doors and bars in place when I said this far you may come and no further here is where your proud waves halt have you ever given orders to the morning or shown the dawn its place I just love that phrase at the end have you ever given the morning have you ever given orders to the morning or shown the dawn its place and so again we have to remember who it is that we are wrestling with when we are in the midst of trials and so I don't know what kind of season you're walking through right now you may be in a great season you might be in an awesome season you can still worship God and remembering who he is but if you're in a season where you are wrestling with God the good part about that is that he's within reach that we are called to wrestle in the same way that Jacob wrestled with God he was able to grab hold of him and so if you are in that season where this might be the worst one you've been through what exactly are you contemplating that you can actually grasp hold of God in this season so I want you to think about that and then lastly I want you to take time today or maybe you set your alarm tomorrow if you're able to or it can be sunrise sunset any of that I want you to take time to look at God's creation today and i want you to remember who it is when you worship who it is you're worshiping that god himself knows you by name he knows me by name he knows us so well and his word never fails and yet he is the very one who set the foundations of the earth and you can go through job and see all of the things that god says and questions job on where were you when i did this where were you when I did this. And so he's reminding him that there is a far greater scope than we can possibly imagine, and his plans are greater than we can fathom. So I want you to be encouraged by that today. I want you to think of true worship, especially if you're in the midst of a season of struggle, being wrestling with God. So I hope that encourages you some today, as it does me, and that you take time to contemplate it and like the disciples who returned after Jesus ascended says that they worshiped him and they were filled with joy and they were continually in the temple but also that worship was probably struggling a little bit of not fully understanding knowing there was something big and the Holy Spirit's coming but not fully understanding what God was doing and yet trusting and worshiping him because of the miraculous things he had done he had done and is still doing. So I hope that encourages you today and I pray that you have a wonderful week.

Originally published at warren.church.