By Steven Chan
The Scriptures say that we are to serve God acceptably, and that requires us to serve Him with reverence and godly fear. Do we understand what that actually involves? What is serving God with reverence and godly fear?
The Bible gives us some examples.
- When the Lord spoke to Moses from the burning bush, He said: “Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand isholy ground.” (Ex 3:5). God demanded and expected proper respect for Him, especially in His presence. One bible student observed thus: “We ought to approach to God with a solemn pause and preparation; and to express our inward reverence, by a grave and reverent behaviour in the worship of God, carefully avoiding everything that looks light, or rude.”
- After Moses had spoken to the people of Israel about the observance of the Passover, they bowed and worshipped God: “that you shall say, ‘It isthe Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’” So the people bowed their heads and worshiped.”(Ex 12:27)
In Exodus 34:8, when the Lord appeared to Moses, the bible recorded thus of Moses: “ So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.”
- When Ezra read the Law to the people of Israel, the people stood up, and bowed their heads and worshipped God: “And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. 6 And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.” (Neh 8:5-6)
- In Habakkuk 2:20, the Bible says: ““But the Lordis in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”
Brethren, God expects us to show due respect to Him when we come to worship Him. There are some things we ought not to do when assembled to worship Him as they are not consistent with showing respect to Him while coming into His presence such as playing games on our mobile phones, talking to one another about non-spiritual matters, not bowing our heads when praying and looking around while others are praying, drinking coffee, eating food, not being assembled and chatting outside the assembly while the brethren are already assembled in worship, not singing, not paying attention to the reading of the scriptures, etc… Brethren, let’s not offend God by showing disrespect to Him when we worship Him, as well as when we are serving Him.
“And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.’ ” So Aaron held his peace.”
Leviticus 10:3 NKJV
