The Favor of His Face

I haven't written on here in a while... so if no one reads this that's alright. I was doing some thinking as I usually am at some point in the day and I decided to write down what was going through my head because I always say I should but never do. So here it is. (this turned out to be harder than I thought... I always forget the stuff that flies through my head!!)

(this turned out to a bit lengthy.. my jumbled thoughts. The last paragraph is kind of a summary of what I am trying to say)

I want to write about worshiping God and why it's important. Not that I don't think most Christians already know 'why' but that 'why' really does create a doorway into seeing God more clearly.

The first thing I want to say is that God doesn't "need" our worship one bit. I think most Christians know this and maybe some are wondering why God is so egotistical. But he is perfectly fine without our worship, perfectly at peace, perfectly secure and perfectly loved. I glanced over a verse before writing this and it was in Exodus 20:22-25, God talking to Moses about worship sacrifices, and he said "You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven... you shall not make gods of silver or gold... you shall make for me an altar of earth... if you make an altar of stone... if you wield your tool on it you profane it..." As I read these phrases a thought jumped into my head (that's usually the spirit of revelation), "what if the reason God never wanted his altars or his dwelling place to be fashioned by tools is because of the same reason He hates the worship of idols, He created us to attach the affection of our heart to the life giving being who created all things and was not created or formed by anything else so that through our connection to Him we would become blessed and the world would receive His blessing through us." What happens when we build something for God is we put our glory on it and in doing so we worship our own creation and not the Great Creator. When we do that, we shine with our own dull glory but the creation is groaning for the revealing of the sons of God who are led by the Spirit and shine with the glory of God! So, I said all that to say this: God doesn't want us to give Him anything, he just wants to "yada" us and for us to "yada" him (this word I'm using means to know by experience or to reveal oneself).

We were created for God, as stated in Col 1:16, but not as servants; as friends (we 'serve' from the position of friendship). In the Old Covenant it's easy to see that the relationship between God and Israel is painted as a master and servant relationship on a large scale. But let's take a quick look at Moses' relationship with God. The Bible says, in Ex 33:11 and Num 12:7, that God spoke with Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend and that Moses even beheld the actual form of God. Why is this exactly? I believe it's because Moses understood what true worship was and because of that he was able to find favor with God. Ex 33:12-17 goes something like this: Moses tells God 'you've told me that you know me by name and I have found favor in your sight. Now if I have favor, please show me your ways that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight.' He then goes on to tell God that he wouldn't go to the promised land without His presence because it's His presence that sets them apart and shows His favor on them. So God says, "This very thing you have spoken I will do (His presence going with them), for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name." Here we see that the favor of God is directly linked to His presence on our life. God's presence will only dwell on a person who makes himself known to God and is intimately acquainted with Him. This of course takes courage and sacrifice.

In Ex 19:16-20 we are given a scene in which God comes down in a thick cloud with thunder, lightning, a loud trumpet blast, fire and even an earthquake and all the people trembled. In the next chapter the people stand away from God's presence and tell Moses to speak to them an behalf of God because they thought they would die but Moses says, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin." The people stand far off while Moses draws near to the thick darkness where God was. Moses told them not to fear but only to have the fear of God that will keep them from sin. Moses knew not to be afraid. Why did Moses have a different perspective of this chaotic scene? Because he had become intimately acquainted with the ways of God and knew His heart for Israel.

So, let me answer this question of 'why' we worship. We know that we don't worship in order to appease God. We know that we don't worship just because God commands us to. I believe that the reason we worship God is that through the act of making ourselves known to God and being intimately acquainted with Him, the favor of His face, His presence, is upon our lives and that is how we become blessed and become a blessing. Every moment we spend in the presence of God marks us with His name, that is to say that the essence of his divine nature and character influence our spirit and we become renewed to be more like Him. God loves us and He wants to give us every good gift but even Jesus had to "grow in favor" with God. Some things will only be given to us (in order to become a greater blessing) through growing in God's favor, and I believe that is the result of our worship.

"The Lord bless you and keep you;

The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious (to favor) you;

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them."

(inside joke for if you read the whole post. God really does like a lot of yada yada!)