Why Do We Worship?
“Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.” Writer David Foster Wallace said these words at a college commencement address and indeed these are such true words. The term worship, in English at least, means ‘to feel an adoring reverence or regard for,’ and when we take a look around our culture, we see worship everywhere. If you simply analyzed objectively how humans spend their time, energy, and money, you would suspect our hearts to be worship factories. We worship people, sports teams, food, sex, clothes, politicians, our kids, our hobbies, our weddings, our friends, our phones, our time, our bodies, etc. Thus, answering the question, “Why do we worship?” is almost as nonsensical as answering the question, “Why do we breathe?” We can’t but breathe if we are alive, and we can’t help but worship if we are alive.
Therefore, the more compelling question might be this, “Why should we turn the object of our worship and affections to the God of the Scriptures?” Once, again, we are instructed by David Foster Wallace: “And the compelling reason for choosing some sort of god or ‘spiritual’ thing to worship…is that anything else you worship will eat you alive.” This simple yet profound statement is one of the key themes bubbling up in the Scriptures from the first page to the last and perhaps it is no more succinctly distilled than by the psalmist in Psalm 115:
PSALM 115
1 Not to us, Lord, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness
2 Why do the nations say “Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.
4 But their idols are silver and gold,
made by human hands.
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see.
6 They have ears, but cannot hear
noses, but cannot smell.
7 They have hands, but cannot feel,
feet, but cannot walk,
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
8 Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them
9 All you Israelites, trust in the Lord— he is their help and shield.
10 House of Aaron, trust in the Lord—he is their help and shield.
11 You who fear him, trust in the Lord—he is their help and shield.
The psalmist declares that only the worship of the God of the Scriptures will bring satisfaction to the soul, and all other objects of our worship will always and inevitably overpromise and underdeliver. In fact, when we elevate anything else in our heart and life to the level of worship, it will end up enslaving us.
Take, for instance, the good and right desire to have healthy community and friends in one’s life. This desire is common to all humans and one that is appropriate and God-sanctioned. However, when this desire for community and friendship becomes the object of our worship, it leads to people acting in ways they never would have before for the approval of those friends (e.g. doing things, drinking things, smoking things, and being codependent to get acceptance.) Suddenly, this good desire for friendship has become a snare and a shackle and only leads to emptiness and loneliness, the very thing the person was attempting to avoid. This same pattern is true of all things of this world (e.g. taking care of your body, marriage, raising successful kids, money, etc.)
Yet the pages of Scripture resound with a life-altering truth: worship God alone and He will meet the desires of your soul. David says in Psalm 63:3, “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.” Indeed, the reason we worship is because the very thing that we trust in, esteem, and honor is the very thing that will end up owning our lives; and yet in Jesus we have a Master who leads His people to freedom, joy, hope, and sonship.
Why do we worship? We can’t help it!
Why should we turn our hearts’ affections to the God of the Scriptures? Because we are finally doing what we were made for: to bring our Father glory and to experience joy, together in Christ.
