By NEIL DUMAS

Minister of Music, First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Tex.

(Published in Baptist Progress, June 21, 2006)

I was sitting in my ninth grade literature class when my teacher announced that we would begin a study of one of the greatest pieces of literature, Charles Dickens’s, Great Expectations. At first, I was excited to think I would be reading such a masterpiece. Then our teacher announced that we would be listening to the entire book dramatized on tape. Believe me, listening to a bunch of high-brow English-sounding folks was not my idea of a good time.

It took almost the entire semester to get through the book an hour at a time. I found it quite difficult to visualize what I was hearing. Some days I even found it difficult to stay awake. In the end, I learned a little about a youngster named, Pip and the hardships he went through as he grew up.

In the ninth grade, hearing the value of honest hard work did not really jive with my personal thinking but since age 15 I have changed my thinking in a lot of ways. Whatever our endeavors may be, we all enter them with one idea of how things should be but often, more sooner than later, another thing called reality blind-sides us. The result is a change in our thinking.

What do you expect from God in your worship service?

At first this may seem like an elementary thought. How often have you entered a worship service with only the thought of receiving something? You came expecting something from God. There is nothing wrong with that unless you only want to receive. We are promised that His Holy Spirit will be present with us in worship. We are also promised that if we seek Him, we will find Him. Matthew 7:7 states, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” It seems that God is not hiding from us but rather wanting to communicate with us.

We all have a sin barrier. To break that barrier, we must individually earnestly seek God’s forgiveness. Dealing with sin daily will prove to keep communication lines open with God.

There have been times that people have commented to me that they did not necessarily need to be in a worship service in order to worship God. This is true to a degree. I have had wonderful worship times outside the realm of corporate worship yet we are instructed to be faithful to assemble together. Look at the wording of Hebrews 10:25: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Could it be that God sometimes works through others to speak to us?

What should we expect from God in worship?

We can count on God at all times! Hebrews 10:23 instructs us to, “hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised).” Wow, how much time and space do we have to list how we can count on God? Our expectations should include Him speaking to our hearts during worship. Of course, we have to open our hearts and be sensitive to His voice. When we think of God’s voice we may visualize this huge earthshaking experience but sometimes He speaks softly as well. If all we are looking for is a huge voice, we just might miss it. On of my favorite Bible excerpts comes from I Kings chapters 18–19. In those chapters, we see the human condition of God’s servant. In one chapter, Elijah is on the mountaintop, literally, challenging Baal’s prophets and defeating the doubts of Israel in grand form. In the next chapter Elijah seems desperate and running from Jezebel out of fear.

What happens next has always had an impact on me. Elijah is instructed by the angel of the Lord to eat physically for his upcoming journey. When he reached Mount Horeb he was instructed to stand upon the mount before the Lord. “.....And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave.” It was there Elijah met with the Lord. Be sensitive to both the huge voice and the still small voice.

What does God expect from us in worship?

In a nutshell God expects us to give of ourselves. I Chronicles 16:29 says it this way: “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” Worship is not a sterile, formulated, unemotional activity. I believe God expects from us our full attention, our full devotion, our full acknowledgment with respect to who He is and who we are, as well as our willingness to live a sacrificial life.

Study the instructions above concerning your personal worship. God is not playing hide and seek with you. Analyze your worship practices and make changes as needed. You are precious to Him. Make the most of your worship times and allow Him to become more and more precious to you. Be a giver, not just a receiver.

Finally, Paul related to the Galatians a great principle for living. It is the principle of reaping what we sow. Galatians 6:7 says, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Live a life of worship. What great expectations do you have of God in worship? Try sowing the expectations God has for you in worship and see what happens.