GIVING TO THE GIVER

Have we ever paused to wonder how creatures of the dust (for that is what we are) can possibly offer anything to God? After all, He is the self-sufficient “I AM”, whose very name declares His independence and sovereignty. If God could have any needs of any kind whatever, how could we be certain of His ability to meet ours?, Phil. 4. 19. No, from Genesis 1. 29 onwards, HE is the ultimate Giver of all things, we merely being the humble recipients.

And yet, such a God desires our worship. The psalmist encourages us to “give unto the Lord glory and strength”, Psa. 96. 7. Glory and strength are His in abundance already, eternally and infinitely, for “Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary”, v. 6. All we can do is simply to acknowledge what He is, and what He has done for us in Christ. “Bring an offering”, says the psalmist, v. 8. Like king David we have to confess that our offering at best is only giving back to God what He first gave us, 1 Chron. 29. 14. The. Living God can accept nothing less than perfection, and therefore our worship will involve presenting to God the Lord Jesus in all His beauty, spotlessness and whole-hearted devotion to His Father’s will, Matt. 3. 17; Eph. 5. 2. If God gave us such an “unspeakable gift”, 2 Cor. 9. 15, surely we can express to Him our delight in His well beloved Son.

The Lord Jesus is the subject of our worship, and holiness is its spirit. True praise can only ascend from a heart wholly separated to Him. “O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness”, v. 9, reminds us that the divine idea of beauty is very different from ours. While we see only the outward appearance, God’s eye penetrates to the centre of our being, assessing our thoughts, our motives, our reality, 1 Sam. 16. 7. How important, therefore, that our spoken or silent appreciation of the Lord Jesus in worship should be the fruit of a life genuinely set apart for Him. Anything less than that will be empty words. May our offerings of praise, “the fruit of our lips”, Heb. 13. 15, bring pleasure to God today.

“Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb”, Rev. 5. 13.