Effects of True Worship

If we are truly, from our hearts, worshipping God, there will be clear effects on ourselves, others, and even on God.

Effects on Ourselves: We have already seen how we can divert sadness and discouragement. Probably the main effect we can expect on ourselves from worship is a new perspective. Worship reminds us who and where and what we are, and who and what and where God is. Worship reminds us that God is in His heaven and all is right with the world, as the old poem has it, but also that He is not just on His throne, high and lifted up, but right here with us and in us. God, says David, “inhabits” or is “enthroned upon” the praises of His people. That’s from Psalm 22, the despairing but praising Psalm from which Jesus quoted on the cross. It begins with a wail of horror—the horror only Jesus has truly experienced, of being torn from God—goes directly to praise, then to telling God all the heart’s troubles—which, again, only Jesus experienced to such depths—and it ends in utter peace: “Posterity will serve Him; It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation. They will come and will declare His righteousness. To a people who will be born, that He has performed it.” And they do declare it, to this day. When we praise and worship God, everything else falls into a place lower than it might have seemed a few minutes before.

Effects on Others: Our heartfelt worship opens a window to heaven for others to peek through. Whether they are ready or not to look through it will vary. Some people are angered or frightened by worship. We have to keep our eyes on the Spirit’s guiding and back away quietly when doors are shut against us, continuing to pray. But for those who are seeking, who want to know what God is really like, our worship can be a magnet. They may not know how to praise for themselves, and the window we can open will be limited, but they can get a glimpse. If God inhabits our praises, then our praises bring Him near to those around us. The true, heart-deep praise of a happy Christian can be irresistible to one who is feeling the ache of the “God-shaped void,” and doesn’t know what to do about it.

Effects on God: Finally, do our praises affect God? It seems impossible, doesn’t it? He is so great, so unsearchable, and so unimaginable that all we ever had for Him were pictures, like oil, or light, or a father or a mother, or a maker, until Jesus came. Now we see God with a human face, and that’s still only a tiny bit of the real picture. How can our feeble praises affect such a Being? It is impossible that an all-powerful God would need anything, but He made us “for My glory.” (Isa. 43:7) He wanted us! He needs us? As a Man, in Gethsemane, He would have died for lack of His friends, if an angel hadn’t come and revived Him.

It’s impossible that an all-powerful God could fail, but even Lucifer turned from Him, and as for us, He once “repented” that He had made us. (Genesis 6:6) It’s impossible that an all-powerful God could cry over a loss, but He will. He’ll wipe away our tears, but He will never forget those beloved children He made, who refused Him. So, impossible as it seems, it must be true. Our praises can lighten the heart of God. Impossible, but fact.

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem for His last week of life, the religious leaders were very disapproving of the shouting and praises of the people, young and old. They complained to Jesus and asked Him to make them be quiet. Jesus said, memorably, that if they were quiet, the very earth would cry out. God will be praised. We get to decide if we want to have a part in the song, or not.