Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

In Psalm 95:6, the Psalmist gives a call to worship saying, “O come let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker.” In this Psalm he also identifies God as the rock of our salvation, a great God, and a great king.

While doing pastoral visitation, I visited a family who had not attended worship services for some time. After greetings I invited them to become active in our worship services.

The man asked me, “Why should I attend the services?” I spent some time sharing the reasons to worship the Lord each week with others who have come together to worship God also.

The writer of Psalm 73 discovered some benefits of attending worship services.

In verse 17, he said that when he went into the sanctuary of God he  gained understanding about God and what He has planned for his people and his creation.

This Psalmist was caught in the circumstances of life.

Doubt filled his mind.

He was concerned about the prosperity of the unrighteous and the suffering of the righteous.

He wondered how a good God could allow evil to go unchecked and good to be unrewarded.

Attending worship gave the Psalmist a new perspective.

He had observed daily life about him and was very troubled because he thought the wicked were strong and hand no trouble like others and were not plagued in verses 4-5.

In verses 6-9, he notices their pride, in verse 10 their popularity, in verse 11-12 their material prosperity, and verses 11-16 he thinks life is not fair and all are not treated equal and it was very painful for him.

If we only focus on the circumstances around us our perspective can be very distorted, but in the sanctuary of worship the Psalmist learned in verse 18-20 that the wicked live in slippery places, can be cast to destruction, consumed with terrors, that the destruction of material things is inevitable, and that they live in a dream or fantasy.

The Psalmist in Psalm 73 gives us a picture of one with a severe case of depression who discovers that worship will strengthen the inner self to overcome even deep depression.

The Psalmist then learned that worship leads to a desire to serve God. He stated in verse 28, “But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all they good works.”

Many will say, “I believe in God but do not attend the services because I can worship God anywhere and it does not have to be in a church building.” The Bible says in Hebrews 10:25, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more as ye see the day approaching.”

To worship is to give praise, honor and glory to God. It is a personal encounter with God as He reveals himself to us through Scripture, song, prayers, sermon, and the praises of God’s people.

Worship has many benefits.

Read the Bible, ask others who worship weekly how worthwhile it is and best of all come to the sanctuary of God and encounter God’s presence.