I am on a quest to learn what it means to "worship" God. I can think back to several "worship" experiences. When I was young, I attended many worship services which consisted of rote and routine practice of words, and actions. It was meaningful to me because of what I believed.Sometimes I would go to that building when few others were there. I would sit with sunlight streaming through the beautifully painted windows, the scent of candle wax and incense in the air and the sound of bird songs flowing in from outside. It was the quietness of the place that drew me to feeling of communing with God.
Later when I began reading the Bible I found this verse, "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth!" -- Psalm 46:10 (NIV)
When I read this I thought of those days sitting quietly communing with God. While the building provided an aura of communing with God it was the stillness and quietness that that allowed me to be calm in my soul and commune with God. I am thinking that was the beginning of being drawn into knowing God.
Cease the Strivings of Self
To worship God, first requires a stilling of the heart. Various translations of Psalm 46:10 use the expression "cease striving" instead of still. To begin worshiping God I need to calm, still my heart and mind and cease striving with all the distractions of the world, and the inner turmoil. Above all, I have to cease striving to be first and foremost in my life. In other words I need to stop worshiping myself. Stop seeking honor, recognition, credit and approval for myself and give that first place and honor to God. (Wow, wouldn't that make all our relationships better).
Isn't that what Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still, cease striving" to be at the top of the recognition consciousness, and know God? Looking further in the verse, we see that exalting God above all is involved in being still and knowing him.
