The powerful call to worship

Then say to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, ‘Let my son go, so he may worship me...’”  Exodus 4:27

[Requesting permission to speak honestly.]  For much of my Christian life, something inside bristled a bit at God’s insistence upon our worship.  Perhaps the call to glorify him brushed up against my egalitarian notions of equality (admittedly misapplied in this case).  Maybe “worship me” seemed out of character for a humble God.  Most likely it was a “Bah! Humbug!” predictably bubbling up from a sin nature preferring not to exalt anything but itself. 

One morning, the devotional scripture included such a call to worship.  As I meditated on the passage and journaled the thoughts it evoked, my heart began to see worship from another perspective.  For the God who has called us to be his own is a good God, and all we wish life would be – beauty and friendship, peace and joy, life and truth, justice and mercy – is precisely what we find in him.  So what’s not to celebrate?  And who else is worthy of it? 

Moreover, God fights for us, his people and frees us from spiritual bondage.  So to all of the “pharaohs” that oppress us today, God’s command still thunders in authority, “Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, 'Let my son go, so he may worship me.’” 

Now, all who are in Christ are Abraham’s offspring¹ and have become “the Israel of God”².  And at his word, the darkest of dungeons have no choice but to release us to the goodness of God.

Brokenness must let us go to worship our God who heals. 
Anxiety must let us go to rest in God's perfect peace. 
Sin must let us go to stand before God in righteousness. 
Despondency must let us go to celebrate God in whom we find joy. 
Fear must let us go and worship God in confidence and faith. 
Shame must let us go and worship the God who has claimed us as his own. 
Loneliness must let us go and worship God who calls us friends. 
Weakness must let us go and worship God in whom we find all strength. 
Injustice must let us go and worship the God who claims justice as his own. 
Weariness must let us go and worship in God's rest. 

In his boundless love for us, God wields his limitless power for us.  He is our God, and we are his people. 

So come, let us adore him!  For he is good.  And we are free. 

¹ Galatians 3:29
² Galatians 6:16