‘Wow, worship was great tonight’, Sam started, ‘I hope you also enjoyed it?’ ‘Of course’, Mary said. ‘It was mind blowing; the sound was perfect and the atmosphere was awesome’ she continued. ‘For me, it was simply refreshing. I mean, I enjoyed the deft touches of the pianist; and as the slow rhythm of the songs touched my soul, I could not help the goose bumps, Jerry explained. They continued home, relishing all the moments they had during worship earlier on.

Very much like Sam, Mary and Jerry, many of us have our definition of worship restricted to the worship session in church. Worse still, we think of the ambience created by the crowd, gadgets and the multiplicity of adroitly fondled instruments as the atmosphere of worship. But, of a truth, it entails more than these. It is the total expression of reverence to God for whom He is. When there is adequate acknowledgement of God’s nature and attributes, worship is birthed. Putting it into perspective, it is to relate with the Lord in absolute awe (Hebrews 12:28b).    

To be in awe, is to have four experiences at a time: veneration, dread, wonder and inspiration. Consider the twenty-four elders in the Scriptures. Six times they were mentioned in Revelation and guess what? On all six occasions, they fell down to worship (Revelation 4:10, 5:8, 5:14, 7:11, 11:16, 19:4). This is not only remarkable, it is instructive. Why did they have to fall down flat every time they had to worship the Lord? They saw God the way He is and they were in awe. They saw Him and they wondered; they saw Him and they dreaded; they saw Him and they were inspired; they saw Him and they had veneration. They could contain it no more and off, to the ground they went in worship.

Recall that when John, Peter, the Zebedee brothers and the Magi saw the Lord the way He really is, the very exact event happened - they fell down in worship (Revelation 1:17; Matthew 17:6; Matthew 2:11). Without doubts, falling down in worship (physically or in the heart) is only a natural consequence of seeing God as He is and reverencing Him for whom He is. A man cannot truly worship the Almighty unless his eyes have been opened to see God in His very nature. The closest he can come, is in thanksgiving for the good God has done and in praising Him for His works. But for us, our cry should be to truly acknowledge God as He is (seeing Him in the light of His qualities). When this is settled, we will express our reverence not only in songs, but in our giving, conversation, lifestyle and every other way we can. It will be visible (even to the blind) that we are relating daily with the Lord in awe.       

Ogaga Eruteya is a Christian minister, writer, poet and speaker from Nigeria. He writes on Faith, Personal Development, Youth Development, and Life Realities. Read more of his writings and learn more about him at www.faithandliving.com