Daily Worship

Daily Worship. By Allison Orgeron Lifehouse Worship Leader

I’ve spent a large part of my life worshipping God. I was raised in the church, my dad was a worship leader, and I myself was on worship teams from the age of 12. Somehow after years of time spent in worship I am still finding more ways and new words to fully express my adoration for the Lord. Fact is, all the words in the world could never adequately express the gratitude that is due for God’s goodness, grace, kindness, mercy, and love towards us.

“Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.”
-The Love of God by Frederick M. Lehman.

He is so worthy of all of our praise and there is so much to be expressed that sometimes it can almost seem to be overwhelming! In our culture today, there seem to be 2 main problems standing in the way of our understanding of how to fully and completely worship God and give Him the glory He is due.

Problem #1: We are very busy people. We spend a lot of breath, a lot of time, and a lot of energy on a bunch of other things only to reserve those 20 minutes of singing at church on Sunday morning as our “worship time.” Now, I know a lot of those things we spend our time on are good things. God has given us so many various gifts and talents and abilities, and we have responsibilities, families to care for, bills to pay… But woven into our day-to-day lives are countless opportunities in which God can be glorified! Let us not allow these moments to pass us by.
 
In order to recognize those opportunities to worship and glorify God in our day to day, the first thing we must realize is that the scope of how we can express worship and adoration to the Lord stretches far beyond singing during the 20 minutes of musical praise and worship at Sunday morning church services. While our Sunday worship services are a vital part of worship - and one that we are commanded to do - that 20 minutes is only a tiny portion (1/500th to be exact) of our week. Whether in church, at home, in the car, at work, mowing the lawn, swimming in the pool, going for a walk, playing with the dog, feeding the kids, rocking the baby to sleep… the list goes on and on and on… in everything we do, to God be the glory. (Romans 11:36)

Problem #2: Worship has a lot of meanings we didn’t know were there. In the English language, we don’t have much more than the two words for that expression of love and thankfulness that we give to God. We see the same words for this over and over in scripture: “worship” and “praise.” I think this is the root of the issue. Thankfully, in the hundreds of places these words are found, when compared to their original Greek and Hebrew texts, there is a much larger variety of language used. In Hebrew alone, there are seven words for worship in their different expressive forms. Below I have listed out each of these words for you. With each word I will give you (1) the definition or form of expression, (2) how many times this form is used or commanded in scripture, and (3) a few examples of where you can find the word in scripture that, in English, is just listed as “praise” or “worship.” I would encourage you to look up some of these passages and replace the words “praise” and “worship” with this new found meaning so that you can see what an impact it can have. There is so much more to discover about worship than we have ever realized!
 

1. YADAH - to revear or worship with extended hands; to stretch out hands (used 114 times) *2 Chronicles 7:3, Psalm 7:17, 52:9, 67:3, 86:12 
2. HALAL - to boast, shine, celebrate; to be foolish - to “holler” if you will (; (used 165 times) *2 Samuel 22:4, 1 Chronicles 16:25,  Psalm 149:3
3. TEHILLAH - to sing a new song of praise; spontaneous song (used 57 times) *2 Chronicles 20:22; Nehemiah 12:46; Psalm 22:3, 34:1, 71:8
4. TOWDAH - confession, thanksgiving for that not yet received, declaration of faith during uncertainty (used 32 times) *Psalm 56:10, Jeremiah 17:26, 33:11
5. ZAMAR - to play an instrument (used 45 times) *Psalm 21:13, 57:7, 108:1, 150
6. BARAK - to kneel or bless (used 335 times) *Psalm 26:12, 95:6
7. SHABACH - a multitude of voices lifted; a great shout or roar (used 11 times) *Psalm 63:3, 117, 145:4, 147:12

With so many ways to express our praise to God, what is it that is holding us back? Let us never allow pride to hold us back. Let us never allow fear to hold us back. Let us never allow the very things God has rescued us from to hinder us from giving Him the glory He so deserves!

Got that promotion at work? HALAL! Going in for an exam or interview you’ve been preparing for - TOWDAH. Rocking your little one to sleep - TEHILLAH. In the middle of a big decision - BARAK. At the doctor’s office awaiting results - TOWDAH, because the Lord is with you! During that crucial time of gathered worship at church on Sunday - we certainly SHABACH and ZAMAR and YADAH, and why not BARAK and TOWDAH and TEHILLAH and please, let’s HALAL!

Let’s take a journey together to discover what it looks like to live a life of worship. In the day to day, big and small, let’s learn to give God the glory He deserves.
 
"We do not serve a God who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every way has been tested just as we are, and is still sinless. So let us approach his throne of grace with boldness so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us when we are in need."                    Hebrews 4:15-16