THE ESSENCE OF WORSHIP (PART 11): JACOB - TRUE WORSHIP EXPRESSES GREAT FAITH

By faith Jacob, when he was dying,

blessed each of the sons of Joseph, 

and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff

Hebrews 11:21

JACOB WORSHIPED GOD THROUGH FAITH, even with his last breath. His WORSHIP WAS TRUE and  CONSISTENT. When the New Testament writer to the Hebrews was inspired by God to write the chapter we call the "HALL OF FAITH," he penned just one verse to illustrate the FAITH of JACOB. Fittingly, he chose an example from the Patriarch's last days when JACOB by FAITH"blessed both the sons of Joseph; and WORSHIPED" (Hebrews 11:21).
Why was this action significant? Why did it demonstrate such FAITH that, alone among all the deeds of JACOB, this final action is cited by the writer to the Hebrews? Read on.

JACOB ACTED BY FAITH

Ironically, this honored member of the "HALL OF FAITH" bears a name that actually means "supplanter." The name of JACOB literally means "heel catcher," and it describes someone who will snatch you down by the heel if you are not alert. Sadly, JACOB spent most of his years living up to his name and practicing many deceptions. Yet the LORD later changed his name to ISRAEL (Genesis 32:28), which means "GOD PREVAILS." God made the name change after a long process that brought JACOB to a deep trust in Him.
Given the importance of JACOB's new name, it seems odd that the WORD of GOD, as conveyed by the writer to the Hebrews, would list JACOB in the "HALL OF FAITH" under his old name. Perhaps this name is a reminder of God's great work of sanctification in JACOB's life. Thus JACOB serves as an Old Testament example of the same sanctification God  wants us to experience today. We would do well, when we enter into WORSHIP, to remember how far God has brought us since the time we placed our trust in Him for salvation. Maybe JACOB was remembering the same thing as he lay dying; perhaps those thoughts were the cause of his WORSHIP.
Indeed, JACOB had much to think about as he recalled the 147 years of his life (Genesis 47:28). In his first fifty years, JACOB's life was characterized by sinful scheming. During the next eighty years he reaped the evil he had sown. No wonder, then, that when Pharaoh asked JACOB, "How old are you?" the patriarch replied, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years: few  and evil have been the days of the years of my life" (Genesis 47:8-9). At that time, seventeen years before his death, JACOB still had trouble remembering how God had forgiven and blessed him.
As a youth, JACOB deceived his father Isaac and sinned against his brother Esau by taking Esau's birthright. Because of his deed, JACOB was forced to leave his family and flee to a foreign land (Genesis 27:41-28:5). Yet even then, God was working to bring JACOB into a trusting relationship with Himself. Even as JACOB left home, the LORD provided guidance and encouragement through the counsel of his father Isaac. He blessed his son, urged him not to take a heathen wife, and advised JACOB where he should go (Genesis 28:1).
During JACOB's journey, God met him in a dream. The LORD not only confirmed the blessing Isaac had given, but made JACOB an unconditional promise that He will bring JACOB and his descendants back to the land. (Genesis 28:13-15).
JACOB did not throw himself on God's mercy when he heard this promise. But his response to the dream indicates that he was thinking seriously about his relationship with God. "Surely the LORD is in this place; and I did not know it," JACOB exclaimed when he awoke. He then piled some stones into an altar, poured oil upon it, and called the place BETHEL, which means "HOUSE OF GOD." Yet JACOB did not trust God completely to provide for His needs, and he continued to put God to test. (Read Genesis 28:20-22)
After JACOB arrived at his destination, God provided him a wife - although ironically, JACOB obtained two wives after enduring the trickery of his uncle (Genesis 29). In the years he lived with Laban, JACOB reaped the consequences of the actions he had sown earlier. . But he also received much blessing from God and learned of His care and mercy during a difficult time. Through difficult circumstances JACOB's FAITH in God grew. When at last he had to face Esau, the brother he had wronged, JACOB anticipated trouble and realized that he might be killed. Yet the night before their meeting, God came again to JACOB.
This time JACOB wrestled with God. In spite of an injured leg, JACOB hung on and said, "I will not let You go, unless You bless me" (Genesis 32:26). He longed for God's blessing more than anything, for he finally trusted God to provide . So the LORD said to him, "Your name shall no longer be called JACOB, but ISRAEL: for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed" (Genesis 32:28). When JACOB received the blessing he had requested, he gave God all the credit: "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved" (Genesis 32:30).
God brought JACOB to the end of his rope once again when he was compelled in his old age to make a journey to Egypt. Just as JACOB had once tricked his own father, his own sons had deceived him into believing his favorite son Joseph was dead. Yet now, after many years of grief, his sons had changed their story. Joseph was alive, they said, and ruling Egypt! What? Such a thing was impossible! Yet JACOB learned to trust God even in this strangest of situation. When father and son were reunited, JACOB's first utterance was to credit the promise God had given to preserve his children.
"Then JACOB said to Joseph: 'God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession' " (Genesis 48:3-4).
Now at the end of his life, JACOB's trust in God was complete. As the writer to the Hebrews recalls and the Old Testament relates (Genesis 48:5-20), the patriarch gave a blessing to the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh. They, too were now included in the promise God had given first to Abraham and had confirmed in turn to Isaac and JACOB.
Why did the writer to the Hebrews view JACOB's blessing as so significant? Simply put, IT WAS BECAUSE JACOB ACTED BY FAITH. Consider his situation. Although he had  once lived in the Promised Land, JACOB had been a nomad there. Now his sons and their households were in Egypt, a long way from Canaan. Yet JACOB fully expected that God would someday give the Promised Land to his descendants. Fulfillment of God's promise would have seemed impossible; in fact, it would ultimately take centuries. But JACOB HAD FAITH. He trusted God. He was so certain God fulfill His promise  that he instructed his sons to make sure he would be buried in Canaan (Genesis 47:29-31, 49:29-32).
JACOB saw in advance something that others would see only in hindsight. And it was because of this faith that he could give his LORD TRUE WORSHIP, even with death closing upon him. Thus did the writer to the Hebrews say of JACOB and his forefathers, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them" (Hebrews 11:13).
(an extract from TRUE WORSHIP by David Whitcomb and Mark Ward, Sr.)

THE PSALM 84 WORSHIPPER (PART 3) - DESIRING GOD

Theme: The Blessedness of Dwelling in The House of God 
Author: The sons of Korah (temple assistant)
Background: Psalm 84 expresses the thoughts of a passionate Worshipper who wants to go to Jerusalem to celebrate one of the three annual feasts (Exodus 23:17; 34:23) but could not. The psalmist inability to attend the feast did not rob him of the blessings of fellowship with the LORD. All who are pilgrims can make the same three affirmations that he made:
1) His Delight Is In The LORD (VV1-4) - the important thing is that we have a HEART devoted to the LORD, a spiritual hunger that cries out for intimate fellowship with the LORD (Psalm 42:1-2; Matthew 5:6)
2) His Strength Is In The LORD (VV5-8) - true worshippers "go from strength to strength" (Deuteronomy 33:25; Isaiah 40:28-31; Philippians 4:13) and trust God to enable them to walk a step at a time even in difficult situation [valley of Bara (weeping) - V6]
3) His Trust is In The LORD (VV9-12) - when we walk by faith, we put the LORD and His will first, and we keep our priorities straight (V10). This is the Old Testament version of Matthew 6:33 and Philippians 1:21
Do we delight in the LORD and seek Him? Do we depend on His strength? Do we walk by faith and trust in Him? Yes, "Even faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God" (VV1-2).

 "Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young" (V3). In other word, God's Living house is to his soul what a nest is to a swallow - a place of rest and security and satisfaction. The psalmist even envies the priests. "Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they will still be praising You" (V4). Outsiders were not allowed to live there, and they were limited in where they cold go inside. Only the priests could enter the Holy of Holies.
Today, we have the privilege of fellowshipping with God without going through a priest. Do we have a desire and a hunger to worship Him? Does our hearts cry out for the living God. Or are we happy for an excuse to be somewhere else from God's house?
May we pray and hunger like David, "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God" (Psalm 42:1-2).
Be blessed with this song: A Place At Your Altar - Hosanna Music

PASSION FOR GOD'S DWELLING PLACE -PART 1

How Lovely Is Your Dwelling Place,

O LORD Almighty!

My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord;

my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God."

Psalm 84:1-2

Can you hear the passion in the Psalmist's voice? The yearning to be in the courts of the Lord, the place of God's very presence. His whole being longing just to be with God. His heart and flesh crying out, shouting joyfully to the Lord who is alive and living and present there. Have you ever felt so desperate to get to church, to enter into worship that you thought you might just faint dead away? You know, if we’re honest, most of us don’t approach worship that expectantly, with that depth of feeling, that desperately even.

The Psalmist tells us that his entire being longed to be at the house of God! His soul, his body and his heart longed to be in the place of worship! Perhaps he remembered what many saints of God have forgotten that the house of the Lord is an oasis in the desert of this world and it is a safe haven from the storms of life. Whatever thoughts occupied his mind, when he thought of the house of God, his pulse quickened, his eyes brightened and he longed to be there more than anything else in his life.

How did the Psalmist knows loveliness of the dwelling places of the Lord unless he had been there? Furthermore besides enjoying the glorious shekinah presence of God, the following reasons reveal why he was so desperate to be in God's dwelling place:
Psalm 84:2 : there are many courts - different dimensions of His presence
Psalm 84:4 : blessings for those who dwell in His house
Psalm 84:7 : spiritual renewal growing from strength to strength
No wonder the Psalmist declares in Psalm 84:10 that a single day in His presence is far superior than all of the thousand best days the world can provide combined! Most of us know Psalm 84, if for no other reason, than because of the modern worship song “Better Is One Day,” based on portions of this Psalm. It touches the passion within us in verses 1-2, and 10, used in that song, and evokes our own sense of longing for God. Listen to this cool renditon by Worship Jamz:

We also know that all through King David's life, he exhibited this same passionate desire to be in the house of the Lord. Psalm 27:4, "One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple." 1 Chronicles 29:3, "Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God," The whole idea from David's experience is that he was a man who loved the house of the Lord and longed for it when he couldn't be there!

As worshipers, what are our motive for going to the house of the Lord? There is a difference between going there for Him to please our hearts and going there for us to please His heart. We touch a higher dimension in God's presence when we are desperate for more of Him.

Blessings - TPWC