My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. (Psalm 84:2)
How does worship affect you? Does it capture you heart, mind, soul, and flesh? It should. After all, if you love Him with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, shouldn’t His worship embrace you that deeply as well?
Over and over in the New Testament we read about the flesh battling against the Spirit, the Spirit lusting after the flesh.
For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. (Romans 8:5-6)
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. (Galatians 5:17)
So depending on what you walk by, and what your mind is set upon, then a worship that will capture all of you is certainly possible.
The longing of your soul is not merely longing, it is deep longing. And yearning has many intense meanings: to be spent, used up, wasted, consumed, to be exhausted; and to be finished, even to the point of being destroyed.
I have been privileged to have led worship in several churches for about 40 years, but to my shame, I have never been consumed by worship, never spent nor exhausted by worship. I have been tired and even used up after a couple services in the morning, but that was a result of the energy and emotion spent by me in leading worship; not the worship using me up. And that saddens me.
Coming into the LORD’s Presence and being filled by His worship and His Spirit should consume us. But does it? Are we too concerned about pitches and rhythms? Too invested in production values? Perhaps too worried by appearance so as not to become abandoned in worship? Maybe it’s the distractions around us or the baggage within us.
I wish I had an easy answer…I do not. But each day that I come before Him to worship Him, I pray to be consumed by His worship. And that is my prayer for you.