My mind ricocheted around the text like popcorn kernels in an air popper…
‘Pop’… without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Heb 9:22), I reflected on that verse as I read about 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats that were sacrificed. I thought about all the blood and what the sacrificing tables must have been like. I thought about the time taken and the priests and Levites who did the sacrificing. I wondered what it smelled like in the dry Middle Eastern sun. I thought about the costliness of praise for OT Israel.
My thoughts popped to a different costliness… the death of Jesus, the very Son of God, giving His life so that my sins and the sins of all who believe in Him could be forgiven.
‘Pop’, my mind bounced back to the text and the simplicity of the verbal praise. He [God] is good; his love endures forever. Again they sang, His love endures forever (3,6). The words themselves are so simple, yet they carry the incredible message of God. They got it! God’s love endures for ever!
‘Pop’, I thought, ‘ahh’, was this the first worship chorus? I wondered how many times they repeated it. I wondered if they sang it antiphonally or in a round or in unison. I wondered what it sounded like supported by the priests and Levites on trumpets and other instruments.
‘Pop’… I noticed the crowd was standing. Did they lift hands? Earlier they knelt and put their faces all the way to the ground (3). How expressive their worship. It involved singing and posture and sacrificing animals…
‘Pop’, they kept this up for 7 full days (8). By the end people must have been exhausted… and God delighted to glory in the praises of His people.
Lord, as we prepare today for worship tomorrow, I ask for a deep sense of Your presence today and an even deeper sense when we gather in the morning in Your name. May our worship be as pleasant to You as the scene described in Chapter 7. Amen and Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment