What's The Right Way to Worship?

Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals. Let everything that breathes sing praise to the Lord! Praise the Lord! 

PSALM 150:5-6

We see nearly every type of worship represented in Scripture, it's like a worship bazaar in those pages.

Are hymns to traditional? No way! Colossians 3:16 says we are to "sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts" (emphasis added). Paul wasn't talking about three specific types of songs here, but about the tendency of the Holy Spirit to move in a variety of ways.

Is rock music too contemporary? Psalm 150 just may be the musician's psalm. It lists horns, lyre and harp, tambourine, dancing, strings, flutes, cymbals, and singing. Of course it doesn't mention rock music, rock wasn't invented for another 2,500 years. But the word praise occurs in little Psalm 150 thirteen times. It was a psalm traditionally used in raucous celebrations during festival times, indicating the usefulness of many kinds of songs in worship.

And what is the proper person during worship? Should we stand, sit, kneel, lie down, or raise our hands? All are mentioned specifically in God's Word. None are right or wrong. Though more public displays of worship such as the raising of hands may feel awkward at first, some of its origins are pretty cool. One image for the raising of hands is that of remembering our position as God's child. A child will raise her arms in asking her daddy, her abba, to hold her.

Raising hands is also a way to hold up our "standard" in battle. The standard is an army's banner, identifying just whom the army belongs to. When Joshua fought the Amalekites, Moses held his hands up to God (sometimes with the help of two other men) for an entire day. As long as Moses' hands were raised, Joshua was winning (see Exodus 17:8-16). We raise our hands to indicate the battle is God's and he is victorious.

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Worship is really one way to say thank you to a God who created and loves you. Be involved in worship this week. Do not merely observe. Sing, dance, praise, raise holy hands.