Worship Follow-Through; Ps 98, Haggai

May the mumbling commence!

Follow through is important is worship, too.  First, I wish to warmly welcome you to mid-week worship again with a few verses from Psalm 98:

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,

     burst into jubilant song with music; 

make music to the Lord with the harp,

     with the harp and the sound of singing, 

with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn –

     shout for joy before the Lord, the King. 

Let the sea resound, and everything in it,

     the world, and all who live in it. 

Let the rivers clap their hands,

     let the mountains sing together for joy; 

let them sing before the Lord,

     for he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness

     and the peoples with equity. (Verses 4-9)

People need an imperative to worship the Lord with joy.  At times, it is difficult to worship with joy.  But nature needs no such imperative.  The sea resounds, along with everything in it.  So does the world resound and all who live in it.  The rivers clap their hands, and the mountains sing for joy.  Let them sing!  Let us see the praise of the Lord in all the earth.  Let us listen to the resounding witness of all nature.

There is joy in all creation because the Lord judges all beings with righteousness.  If we wish our worship to resound true in the Lord’s ears as the worship of the creation around us, then we must follow through with righteousness and equity with all people.  Yep, the follow through of worship happens in between Sundays.  Read from Haggai 1:3-11 –

Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai:  "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" 

Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways.  You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."

This is what the Lord Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways.  Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the Lord.  "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the Lord Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.  Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops.  I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands."

Give careful thought to your ways.  Do we, like the people in Haggai’s day embellish our own lives and chase after worldly goals we have little chance of attaining?  Do we chase after wealth and power and fame to the detriment of worshiping the Lord?  Indeed, are we worshiping other idols between Sundays?  Let us embrace the Lord or endure the consequences of chasing for peace with no hope.  With God, there is always hope.  Read Haggai 2:6-9 –

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.  I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the Lord Almighty.  'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the Lord Almighty.  'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the Lord Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the Lord Almighty."

Greater things are always to come when we choose the path of the Lord.  And the Lord’s path always leads to true peace and security.  Everything else is a poor substitute.

Enough mumbling for now… 

Peace Out