We know that worship is a rational choice of loving the Lord with all our heart, mind, and soul. We are challenged in I Cor. to "sing and pray with the spirit and with understanding". I would not take anything away from that principle. However, we need to balance it with a sense of wonder and awe.
From Genesis to Revelation there is a thread of a sense of awe and wonder throughout scripture. Wonder is the open door to worship. Our capacity to wonder is built into us for encountering God Himself. We see that sense of awe at creation. We see awe throughout the Psalms. We see a sense of awe in Isaiah 6. We see that sense of awe culminating in the book of Revelation. We need to always approach Him with a sense of child-like awe and wonder.
We need to be passionate about living our lives every moment in the wonder of worship. Do we have the desire of Paul to know and experience God intimately? Will we take the time every day to spend time in intimate relationship with Him? If so, the passion, awe, and wonder will show up in our corporate worship, also.
We need to desire to know God rather than just knowing about Him. We could memorize every word of Scripture and still not "know" Him or have an experience of the presence of God. At some point, we have to lay the Book down and approach the throne.
As we seek to know Him, we must serve Him rather than only identify with Him. If we seek Him, we will come to know His agenda of reclaiming His creation through redemption which will lead us to have more experience in serving people. Serving also reestablishes the wonder in our worship.
Worshipping God must be a daily act which requires adjustments and even sacrifices in our lives. If we practice the presence of God in our lives every day and every moment in wonder, it will change the way we live. It will change our thinking, our priorities, and our basic approach to life. At times it will be painful and not easy, but in the end we'll count it all as loss for the joy of knowing Him! mjm
