Worship III, Day 3 Returning To Wonder

Revelation 4:6-10
Psalm 5:1-3
Exodus 33:18-23
Isaiah 45:5-7
Psalm 96:10-12

Worship III, Day 3

While my mother would tell you she does not have a good singing voice, to me,
her voice will always be a sound of comfort and home.

One of my earliest memories is of my mother singing a hymn as she cleaned the house, her voice floating down the hall and into my room,
“Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning my song shall rise to thee!”

Even now, as I remember the lines of that song, I hear it sung in her voice and I long to go back to that happy time, to my childhood home. As an adult, however, the Lord has used that song
to bring me home to Him.

I have recently come to a place in my faith where I am tired most of the time.
I’ve spent a great deal of time and energy “doing” the work of the Lord,
and not enough time simply “being” his daughter.
If you’ve read my story, you’ll understand this is an ongoing battle for me.
One from which the Lord is consistently winning me back.

One particularly harsh side effect of my busyness is I often lose the wonder of my faith.
The more I focus ministry and the service of God, zeroing in on accomplishments and tasks,
the more I forget to simply see Him, love Him, and worship Him.

In the past few weeks, however, the Lord has been playing “Holy, Holy, Holy” in my mind, bringing it up in those quiet moments. I woke one morning with this song in my head and felt compelled to look up the lyrics. An hour later I was in tears, overwhelmed by the beauty and wonder of our God.

This is the power of a good hymn.
They can help us see and understand the theology of our God with fresh eyes,
bringing us to worship Him the way He deserves.

Relational & Personal
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

The author of this song tells us so much about God in these four powerful lines.
We are reminded that God is holy, merciful, mighty and in perfect relationship with the members of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

King David declares,
“In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
in the morning I plead my case to you and watch expectantly.” (Psalm 5:3)

We serve a God who loves us and listens to our requests.
David knows God not only listens to us, but He responds and therefore, when we cry out to Him in the morning, we can spend our day waiting expectantly for His response.
It blesses me to know that this merciful, mighty, and awesome God
listens and responds to me.

He Alone Is Worthy
Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Who was, and is, and evermore shall be.

Painting a picture of Revelation 4, the author describes the “right now” snapshot happening in God’s heavenly throne room, where elders and living creatures are bowing down and worshipping God. The scene depicted is beyond imagination: thunder, lightning, rainbows, creatures covered in rare jewels, and of course, a “sea of glass, like crystal”. While everything in this throne room is awe-inspiring, it is our eternal and infinite God, the Creator of all these things, who alone deserves our worship.
He alone is worthy of our praise!

Perfectly Holy
Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see;
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in pow’r, in love, and purity.

Here, the author takes a moment to remind us of our sinful condition and its implications. Because we are born into sin,
we are unable to fully grasp the glory of our God.

It is my sin that constantly draws me away from worship
and into frenzied action.
But, as we know, He has not left us in this state.
Mercifully he sent us Christ,
who became sin,
defeated death,
and hides us within Himself until He returns.
It is His perfect power and love that has opened the door to intimacy with God!

Without Christ, we could not draw near to a holy God, who is completely separated from sin.
But covered by Christ’s perfect purity,
we too have been made holy and can draw near!

I love that the Lord used this song from my childhood to draw my eyes back to Him.
I am floored by the amount of wonder the author of this hymn packed into four little stanzas!
I pray that we would always remember just how wonderful, powerful, mighty and gracious our God is, and should we forget, I pray He would sing his songs over us again and give us the ears to hear Him. Amen!

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