Worship (He Cares)

What drives you to a place of worship?

And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain." (Exodus 3:12 NIV)

Worship is an interesting word to trace throughout the story of Moses and the Israelites.  The accounts tell us that there were certain times and places where they stopped everything to worship.  When Moses encountered God at the burning bush, for example, it was not described as worship.  It was a God- encounter to be sure, but the experience was not described as worship.

When Moses worked through his God-encounter at the burning bush, making it more and more real for himself, then Moses began living out God’s call as we had already discussed a few weeks ago.  He started with his brother, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel.

Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped. (Exodus 4:29-31 NIV)

The Israelites had been living in Egypt for nearly 430 years now.  Many of those years were spend in slavery.  They must have thought that God was punishing them.  Perhaps they thought God had abandoned them.  Some may even have moved away from believing that God existed at all.  Whatever the case, it is clear that God cared about them and when they heard it…they worshipped.

What drives you to worship?