shachah

I have to say that I am doing quite a bit of reading this year. I may not retain all of what I read, but I do remember some of what I read. I am currently reading a book entitled, "Seven Words of Worship". So far it has been an interesting read. I just finished a section that recalled how Abraham chose to worship in what was called, "a crisis of belief". In the Book of Genesis, Abraham is instructed by God to offer up his only son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. Now, as a father, I would have to sit and think about this for a while; even after hours, maybe days of prayer. But, the scripture tells us that the next morning Abraham set out for the top of the mountain with his son.

Did you know that the first time the word "worship" shows up in the Bible is during this crisis in Abraham's life? "The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we'll come back to you" (Gen. 22:5) Abraham is facing an unbelievable crisis, too much for anyone to even try to imagine, and at the same time he is planning to worship with his son. He has faithfully placed his crisis in God's hands and is already assured of the outcome...."we'll come back".

The Hebrew word for worship that is used in this passage, is shachah. This word is used more than 100 times in the Old Testament, and it is a worship that is done by bowing, kneeling, stooping, or lying on the ground before God. It symbolizes that the created is responding to the Creator........."the lesser is responding to the One who is clearly greater". I can't help but think that maybe in our worship today, we have limited ourselves to just the activity of singing songs to God, and have missed shachah; a worship that requires a physical action.....a realization of who God is and what He has done for us. I'm sure that not everyone is comfortable with bowing, kneeling, or even lying facedown on the ground before God; and I'm not saying that you have to. I do feel that the condition of one's heart will direct our worship; and a heart that is filled with the love and mercy of Jesus Christ will cause one to worship beyond the singing of songs....even on bad days ....... even in a crisis.