What brings you joy? For some, it may be time on a vacation. Others might say that the start of college football season (WHOOP WHOOP), certain family or friends, a drive through the country in a particular car, time at a spa, music, or movies are what bring you joy.
As you think about things that bring you joy, is worship something that is included on your list? Many of the other things that bring us joy evoke an emotional response, but for many of us, worship is something we feel we can do emotionlessly. An emotionless worship is certainly the opposite of what David felt when he wrote Psalm 100.
[1] Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
[2] Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
[3] Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
[4] Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
[5] For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations. (ESV)
I will always remember the return to in-person worship as COVID lockdowns were beginning to end. I had a student approach me, a freshman girl, and she made a comment I will never forget. She said, “there is so much excitement for me every single time I get to show up to worship. It is a time when I can fully praise God with all I have with all my brothers and sisters in Christ.” She followed that statement with something wise beyond her years: “I hope we never forget this moment, and we show up to worship every single week with this level of excitement.” From everything I saw, she was able to live that out. When she showed up to worship, no matter how difficult her life may have been in the moment, she showed up to worship with joy. She was prepared to make a joyful noise to the Lord, to enter his presence with singing, and to give Him praise and bless His name.
I pray that we all can have the attitude of a freshman girl who simply longs to worship her creator. If this is something with which you struggle, I encourage you to ask yourself why you could be struggling with worshiping God with joy. Once you begin to self-diagnose why worship could be something that is becoming stale, you can begin to run some treatments to help cure stale worship syndrome!
If you feel like worship has become stale for you because God has become boring to you, get into the word of God, and start re-reading His story! Allow yourself to see his beauty that can be found all throughout scripture! Allow yourself to dive into resources that can connect different points of scripture for you, and you will begin to regain an awe for the Creator that will skyrocket your ability to worship Him with joy!
If you feel like worship has become stale to you because you have grown tired of the monotonous order of worship, try changing where you sit in the auditorium on a Sunday morning! Though our order of worship may not change, you can do little things to change your perspective, and that may allow you to bring some energy back into your worship.
We will find that there are many creative ways to allow ourselves to re-see the beauty of worship and once again come to the point of “all I can do is make a joyful noise to the Lord!”
As we end this article, I challenge you: come to worship with an attitude that is ready to fully praise our King! If you are struggling with this, wake up next Sunday morning and prepare your mind to say, “today, I am going to enter into my time of worship with singing, thanksgiving, praise, and blessing the name of our good and loving God!