Daily Devotions
Is Worship Still Authentic If You Don't Feel Like It?
Reading for June 18th: Psalms 73-77
When I remember God, I moan;
when I meditate, my spirit faints.
Psalm 77:3
Does worship have to be spontaneous to be authentic? Does it have to be an uplifting experience emotionally for it to be real?
If that's what you think, you're dead wrong! Just a small sampling of the psalms and you'll see a whole gamut of emotions, and most of them are not the "I-feel-really-great-today" emotions.
Somehow we've gotten this notion that worship is somehow invalid if we do it even when we don't feel like it, that if we don't feel like prayer or reading our Bible or going to church that we are wasting our time by doing those things. We've bought in to the silly idea that we've become "legalistic" if we just worship God because it's the right thing to do--that our worship is cold, rigid, formalistic, ritualistic, and, worst of all, hypocritical!
But there is nothing more authentic than someone who approaches God in the depths of their despair, doubt, depression, and dryness who is honest with God about how they really feel. They don't put on a happy face just because that's what is expected. They are REAL! They aren't happy with life, with themselves, or even God necessarily...
But they worship him anyway!
That's real worship!
Father, give us the faith to believe that you want to hear from us even when we're not happy with you.
