"My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up" (Psalm 5:3). Our worship altitude is completely dependent upon whether we are looking down at the circumstances surrounding us or if we are "looking up" toward our Lord. If we get bogged down in our momentary afflictions, we tend to forget to "look up" and remember that we are "kept in His love" as the old hymn, "Moment by Moment," says.
One of my favorite books of the New Testament is Philippians. Paul deftly deals with a great question in this book. When life is so hard and difficult, how can I worship God? We are shown by Paul that we can worship with joy and gladness when we simply lift our eyes above our moment by moment tribulations and keep our focus on Him and the innumerable blessing of eternity. Paul uses an ancient hymn in Philippians 2:5-11 to show us that when we suffer, the vision of Christ's ultimate victory and glory will carry us, sustain us and fill us with joy and gladness.
Paul goes on to remind us in chapter 4 to rejoice in the Lord. Then, also in that chapter, he challenges us to think in new ways. Paul challenges us to "think on such excellent and praiseworthy things" therefore our attitude will lift our worship altitude. I think it was John Maxwell who said, "Our attitude determines our altitude".
If we focus on, meditate on and occupy our minds and hearts on God and His gifts, it will enable our worship, no matter what our circumstances. And the very act of worship, both private and corporate, in which we consider God's glory, fills our hearts with joy and will certainly lift our worship altitude. mjm
