The actions of worship
I have deliberately left any form of ‘action’ until the later stage of the essay, as I wanted to clearly show that any form of action must be the direct overflow of the heart, directed totally and wholeheartedly towards God.
Like faith, true worship without any form of action is dead. Two Biblical words, which are normally translated as worship in the English Bible, show clearly the importance of ‘action driven by desire’. The words are Shachah (Hebrew) and Proskuneo (Greek).
Shachah is used to describe the ‘act’ of the people of God bowing or prostrating themselves before God. For example (Gen 24:26, 48; 1 Chron 29:20; 2 Chron 20:18; Ps 95:6.
Proskuneo literally means to “to kneel or prostrate oneself in honour or supplication” (Bridges, R. F., & Weigle, L. A. 1997,Pg 387). It also portrays the image of "kissing towards" (Dye, C. 1999, 25).
These words show us the two different but important sides to true, biblical worship. On the one hand worship should express itself in actions used to show honour, reverence and submission to a king or emperor. On the other hand worship must express the deep intimacy and closeness that is expressed through the kiss of lovers. In light of these simple word studies we can see that worship should be highly ‘charged’, filled with passion and zeal – a far cry from so much of what we call worship!
I have deliberately left any form of ‘action’ until the later stage of the essay, as I wanted to clearly show that any form of action must be the direct overflow of the heart, directed totally and wholeheartedly towards God.
Like faith, true worship without any form of action is dead. Two Biblical words, which are normally translated as worship in the English Bible, show clearly the importance of ‘action driven by desire’. The words are Shachah (Hebrew) and Proskuneo (Greek).
Shachah is used to describe the ‘act’ of the people of God bowing or prostrating themselves before God. For example (Gen 24:26, 48; 1 Chron 29:20; 2 Chron 20:18; Ps 95:6.
Proskuneo literally means to “to kneel or prostrate oneself in honour or supplication” (Bridges, R. F., & Weigle, L. A. 1997,Pg 387). It also portrays the image of "kissing towards" (Dye, C. 1999, 25).
These words show us the two different but important sides to true, biblical worship. On the one hand worship should express itself in actions used to show honour, reverence and submission to a king or emperor. On the other hand worship must express the deep intimacy and closeness that is expressed through the kiss of lovers. In light of these simple word studies we can see that worship should be highly ‘charged’, filled with passion and zeal – a far cry from so much of what we call worship!
No comments:
Post a Comment