What if I Don't Like How You Worship?

I hate spiders. As much as I love animals and feel disloyal not liking something God made, I just can't consistently keep on good terms with them. Too many bites as a child; too many viewings of Lord of the Rings and other such things. But I had a very humbling encounter with one the other day.

I had walked outside to check the mail. Our mailbox is on a shared stand with our next door neighbors'. As I opened the flap, something moving under the two boxes caught my eye. A relatively small spider had built a web underneath the neighbors' mailbox, and as the breeze blew through it, I saw that a June bug many times the spider's size was caught in it, and would soon be dispatched. Based on the lack of movement on the June bug's part, it was clear that a rescue mission on my part was no longer necessary. My internal reaction ranged from, "Ack!" to, "Good for you, spider!" and "Get me out of here!"

As I started in stupefaction, a small impression crept up on me. That spider is worshiping the Lord by doing what it was created to do. "Well, I don't care for that kind of worship!" I quipped as I scurried away and shut the door behind me.

But it was true. Creation worships the Lord by doing what He made it to do. The next morning, during my Daddy Daughter Time, the Lord's sense of humor came through again as I was directed to Psalm 104. It's all about celebrating Elohim, our Creator God, and creation worshiping Him by heeding His commands, and operating to the fullest according to His design for them. It ranges from celebrating the majestic to acknowledging the uncomfortable. You can almost hear the "side-eye" in David's tone when he writes in verse 26 of the ocean creatures, "There is that Leviathan which you have made to play there." Even the Leviathan plays in the ocean because God designed it to. And, whether I like it or not, the spider does what it does for the same reason.

Doing what God made you to do, especially with a glad heart, means you are moving in His will, showing Him love through honor and obedience versus rebelling against Him.

We are made to commune with God, to take joy in Him, and worship Him. For some people, the reaction to theses internal agreements and revelations is more violent or exuberant than others. I know sweet children of God who stand perfectly still in awe and wonder before the Lord, while others weep openly before Him at the thought of His grace and mercy. Both are right responses, each according to the internal design of the person pouring out praise to Our Father. Each reaction fits with what is considered genuine in the individual's relationship with the Lord. But some people take issue with these various responses based on their own backgrounds, makeups, and preconceived notions.

In Luke 7, Simon, the Pharisee, didn't like the way the woman with the alabaster box worshiped. Her emotional outpouring, weeping over Jesus' feet and publicly unleashing her hair to wash away the dirt before pouring perfume over them to anoint Him King over her life, disturbed his sensibilities. Judas didn't like the way Mary of Bethany worshiped Jesus with her extravagant love and bottle of costly spikenard (John 12). The women's modes of expressing their devotion to God and their awe at His love and forgiveness convicted these men, exposing just how closed off their hearts were to the Savior, how much they didn't take joy in Him. And they became angry and indignant instead of convicted and repentant.

So no, you won't always like the way someone else's worship comes out. But if it is sincere, don't let it bother you. It's not for you, anyway. It's for our Father, the King of the Universe, Who loves it when we come to Him with the heart of a child, so excited about Who He is and taking joy in Him, and what He created us to do for and with Him. Instead, sit with the Lord and examine why their particular response bothers you. Is it just different because you were taught to express your adoration differently? Is it offensive because you can't believe someone like that could be made acceptable before God? Are you irked that you didn't realize you could be that free with your Father and they did it first? Repent of any pride standing in the way, and allow the Lord to teach you how to see the beauty in the way creation responds to its Creator.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me, and know my anxieties;

And see if there is any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24).

Ask Him to show you how you can worship Him in a genuine way that will please His heart.