The greatest threat to worship today is a low view of God. We no longer hold God in high reverence. We no longer stand in awe of His radiance and glory. We no longer tremble before His infinite power. We don't see coming before Him as a weighty thing. We've lost the concept of the holy. This is reflected in how we approach God in worship.
Worship has become something that is casual and common. People arrive ten minutes late because God is small in their estimation. He is insignificant and is expected to conform to their schedule. People dress in casual attire because they see worship as a casual affair. They come with their coffee because worship is just another form of entertainment, where you sit back and relax and enjoy the show.
Our generation has lost the sense of God's glory. The Hebrew word for glory carries the idea of weightiness. It describes the fullness of God's divine being. When Moses asked God to show him His glory God told him it would be more than he could endure. Yet, we enter God's presence with little thought of His Divine majesty.
Uzza should stand as a warning to us, who dared to reach out and touch the ark of God. Or Nadab and Abihu, who dared to profane the worship of God with their unauthorized incense.
What is the solution? We need to repent. I mean personal repentance. It is too easy to look at others and smugly condemn their worship. But what about your own heart? You need to repent if you have forgotten the infinite greatness of God; if you enter worship without a sense of His presence; if you treat His worship as a common, casual thing. Worship demands preparation. We need to pray that God's Holy Spirit would prepare us for worship, filling us with awe and humbling us before His greatness.
We need to recognize that God is infinite in majesty. He is holy, holy, holy. As Jesus taught His disciples to pray He began, "Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name." God is with us in an intimate relationship, He is our Father--and yet He is in heaven--apart from, transcendent. His very name is Holy.
We need to enter the place of worship with the knowledge that we are leaving the profane and entering into the holy. Yes, it is true that God's presence is boundless, He is omnipresent. Yet, when Moses saw the burning bush, he was overwhelmed by the presence of God--God told him to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground.
Such was the vision of Isaiah. He saw the heavenly hosts gathered about God's throne, calling out to one another, "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory" (Isaiah 6:3). When the Apostle John saw the risen Christ it was no common affair - "I fell at His feet like a dead man" (Revelation 1:17). May God grant us a fresh comprehension of who God is, and may it transform our worship.
