Hello, and Happy Chinese New Year!!
I hope you’re enjoying your day off! What? Not taking a break for the lunar new year? Around here many shops are closed and there is a lazy holiday feel. Bright red lanterns and “new year trees” full of vivid yellow blossom decorate almost every home and business. The air is thick with the smell of incense and you can hear distant drums and cymbals as the lion-dancing troupes perform (for a fee) to bring good luck in the coming year.
With all these different sights, smells and sounds of “worship” all around us, I have been pondering our worship of the True and Living God. Did you know that the Hebrew word for worship basically means to prostrate yourself? While there are numerous references to loud, joyful, energetic worship in the Psalms, there is also the idea of bowing down, humbling ourselves, becoming spiritually prostrate before our majestic, awesome God.
We seem to do the upbeat, “joyful noise” kind of worship pretty well. (Although I have the feeling we do not go at it with as much abandon as the ancient Hebrews!) But I am coming to realize that I am really terribly bad at humbling myself before God, attaining the sincere attitude of quiet submission to a Being who is infinitely greater than I am. I struggle to grasp the actual meaning of “fearing” the Lord.
There are a number of reasons why this might be so. Of course, I have trouble seeing myself in the proper perspective. In my own world, I play a pretty major role, so I have trouble grasping just how small I am in the bigger, eternal picture. But that’s only half the problem. Because, while the Bible tells us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, it also assures us of our value, our uniqueness, and our “belovedness” in the eyes of the One who created us.
I think the greater problem is grasping just how big God is—struggling to offer the proper awe that is due the Creator and Master of the Universe. Our Old Testament brothers and sisters were fascinated by the powerful sun, terrified by the rumbling thunder, overwhelmed at the vastness of the sea. They believed that God held all these marvelous forces in His hand and threw themselves at His feet. Today we have lost most of that wonder. We have explained away the mysterious and convinced ourselves that we are ultimately in control. We chart the motion of the planets, forecast storms, and navigate the globe in a matter of days. We rarely pause anymore to stand in awe of nature, much less to give homage to the One who created and sustains it all. Many even go so far as to deny the role of a Creator at all.
Secondly, we have lost any sense of majesty—especially those of us in the west. We no longer hold any one individual up in reverence, awe and deference. Every human is on an even footing with the next one, and those in leadership over us are subject to an extra amount of scrutiny, criticism and even ridicule. Our sense of respect for authority is at an all-time low. While I work at submission in my closest relationships, I have no idea what it truly means to be “subject” to another. I have rights, after all! The absence of royalty and majesty in our society makes it so much harder to grasp the Kingship and Sovereignty of God.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any easy answers for how to regain the proper sense of awe and reverence for the Almighty, and yet I am convinced that it is very important if we wish to help others. Ministry must always flow out of right relationship with God. I am afraid that this humbling, this yielding, this prostrating ourselves before Him is the key to effectively ministering to those around us. Only by truly submitting to God can we really begin to serve our fellow man.
1. Keep praying for Steve as he continues to help facilitate Jonathan Training this week and part of next week. Pray as he mentors three individuals through this process and pray for them as they develop a ministry plan for the future.
2. Pray for Steve’s first meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) with a young man who has asked Steve to mentor him, and keep praying for Deb’s coaching relationships.
3. Pray for Steve’s mom, who is having a heart procedure done today (Monday), asking that the doctors are skillful, the procedure is successful, and her recovery is quick.
4. Pray for Jessica Robertson’s parents (Dan & Lois Gillette) as they travel back to the US tomorrow (Tuesday). Praise God that they were able to be with Tim and Jessica for the birth of Elliot and got to spend some time in Cambodia as well.
5. Praise God that Deb’s cat, Nittany, is recovering well from being spayed. 
Psalm 95:3–6
For the LORD is a great God
And a great King above all gods,
In whose hand are the depths of the earth,
The peaks of the mountains are His also.
The sea is His, for it was He who made it,
And His hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us worship and bow down,
Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
In Him,
Deborah & Steve
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