God's Response to Lavish Worship

Worship in the Bible that brought the presence of God was marked by two things -- costliness and extravagance. King Solomon offered 1,000 sacrifices to the Lord. That night God appeared to him and offered him whatever he wanted. (1 Kings 3:4-5)

In another time of costly worship, the people brought so many sheep and oxen to be sacrificed that the Scriptures say they couldn’t be recorded or counted. (II Chronicles 5:6).

A couple chapters later their counted and recorded offerings totaled 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. Too many to count would have been extravagance!

What was God’s response to such lavish adoration? The glory of the Lord so filled the house that the priests could not perform their services. Costly worship prepares us to receive God’s presence.

The cost to us might involve time we could spend sleeping or watching TV. For King David it meant being misunderstood by his wife. (2 Samuel 6:20)

But worship that involves a sacrifice prepares the way for God to meet us.

Dear Father, help me to realize how much you value my worship.

“He who offers sacrifices of praise prepares the way for the salvation of the Lord” (Psalm 50:23).

Today's Prayer Request
Pray that each one on the worship team will be anointed by the Holy Spirit. Pray for Melinda Priest, Kim McLean, Devon O'Day, Dorinda Biggs, Becky Bennet, Beth Fox, and Renita Koehn.

I'm grateful that over 90 of you responded to the call for those willing to pray for registrants. Five have asked for the entire list! Nearly 1500 have registered. If you would also like individuals to pray for, please email me.