Worship in the Old Testament

Worship in the Old Testament had 3 characteristics.

1) It was sacrificial.

We read about Abraham's sacrificial worship in Genesis 22. He went up a mountain to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Isaac, the promise of God. Isaac, the thing he loved most. How often do you give God worship that hurts? We must learn to give sacrificial worship.

2) It was organized.

The whole book of Leviticus provides us with God's instructions on how to worship. Each type of offering had a specific way you had to give. There were specific directions that had to be followed or your worship was not accepted. Later on, in 1 Chronicles 23-26, we see King David organizing the temple worshippers in specific ways. We read about how he organized the Levites, the temple guards, and even the musicians. There were specific roles and even shifts. David did not leave anything to chance. We have got to learn to organize ourselves when we worship. We can't just throw things together and call it worship because it's for God. Worship should be organized.

3) It was honest.

The psalmists wrote songs that were honest. Every psalm was not about how wonderful it was, how life was so perfect. Sometimes they wrote songs about pain and frustration. Sometimes they wrote about despair. They simply worshipped God honestly. Here are some examples: Psalm 3, 10, 12, 13, 42, 43, 70, etc. A brief overview of Psalms shows us that many of them were written in times of trouble. Yet, they wrote, in spite of my suffering, my struggle, whatever it is that I'm going through right now, I'm still going to worship God. Why? Because He is worthy of my praise. When enemies surround me, He is worthy of praise. When storms come against me, He is worthy of praise. When the mountains tremble and the earth shakes, He is worthy of praise. Whatever it is you're going through, He is worthy of praise. We can worship Him in our moments of struggle, and express our emotions. He can handle it. No matter what I'm going through, He is still worthy of my worship.

The Old Testament teaches us that our worship should be sacrificial (it should cost me something), organized (not just thrown together), and honest. It's not all "sloppy wet kisses;" sometimes I'm angry. Yet He is still God and worthy of worship.