Promote His name

After addressing God the Father, the first area is to promote His name. That is to hallow or honor His name. I want to say that it is not because of imagined weakness in God’s emotional state that He insists on worship. He insists on worship because understanding God’s character and attributes is beneficial to us and His Kingdom. Worship is not FOR God. Worship is FOR US. The largeness of His name is for our benefit. We will forever struggle with doubt and fear and anxiety until we understand the limitless power of His love and attention for us. Anxiety looms large where His name is small and not honored.

Once we begin to grow in our understanding of God’s might and His willingness to exercise it for our benefit, our problems and concern about issues will begin to shrink. We never need fear underestimating the greatness of His power and love for us. Even issues like cancer and death will begin to take their place at the feet of the One who is the Author of Life.

We will never feel unloved in understanding His capacity for affection. There is no request too big or too strong. He has offered His Son. There is no greater offering that could have been made. No greater gift. No gesture grander. The question of God’s love for us was forever settled on the Cross. Does God love us? More than we can possibly understand. His love for us is without limit.

I might feel a deep love for you but I simply lack the capacity to exercise and demonstrate my love. I frequently fail to demonstrate love to my wife, children, and friends. I am limited in so many ways. God, however, is not saddled by such limitations.

He is not limited in His attention or interest. We will never feel ignored once we begin to understand that the God who sees every sparrow fall; who has each of our hairs numbered; who names the stars; also has our names engraved on His palms. He alone is able to offer undistracted attention to every particle at a quantum level without having his focus stretched or strained. He can play chess with an infinite number of pieces on an infinite number of boards. He alone can keep track and always win.

God is not limited by power and strength. Mankind has learned to unleash the terrible destructive power in a few atoms. Nations tremble at the awful might of nuclear power. International law is greatly concerned about the issue. People have nightmares about such power. Stubborn nations have yielded to others who hold the power of a handful of such atomic weapons. Yet, in scripture, we learn that it is Christ who holds all of that terrible power together. He owns the power in every atom of every created thing in all of the universe. He holds it tightly for now and the violent release of it all would amount to a puff of smoke in His hand. That is the beginning of the knowledge of His power. The One who created all things and holds all things together is also the One both willing and able to exercise His power on our behalf.

Our God is not limited by time. He is the great I Am. He is without cause. That is, He exists in our every moment. He is in our present. His presence is inescapable. The God who presently is, also was. God is in our past, He exists there even now. It is as if God is still standing beside me at my father’s grave. He is still present with my mother on the painful day of my birth. He continues to rejoice over the moment of my return to Him. He is also the One who is to come. In whatever events are to be unfolded for us, God is there. I do not say that God “will be there.” I mean to say, God is already standing with us in our future. He is there with the full attention of His love and the strength of His might. We never have to wonder if God is present with us. He absolutely is present in every imaginable tense and dimension. We can’t begin to comprehend it because of the simplicity and limitations of our imagination.

Our God never forgets His promise. He cannot be unfaithful to the oath He has made regarding us. He certainly is capable and able to do what He has promised. He is not limited by apathy or disinterest or forgetfulness.

This (and so much more) is the God we want to attempt to define and unwrap in our understanding. The reason we must ascribe worth to God is to learn Him both willing and capable to act in our moment of need and weakness. The strength of our worship will yield an equal strength in our faith which will become a universal solvent for our doubts and anxieties.

I believe the weakness of our worship and understanding of God has made us easy prey for the spiritual lions of doubt and anxiety that seek to devour and destroy us. Jesus spoke about seeds that fell among thorns to describe those whose pursuit of God is crowded by the cares and riches and pleasures of life. The great temptation in our 21st-century life is not to be evil as much as it is to be distracted. Our worship life is crowded and consumed by a lengthy to-do list, gadgets, apps and so many attractive pleasures and forms of entertainment. Satan doesn’t need to exchange the worship of our true God for a false one. The kingdom of darkness only needs to distract us with something that seems more urgent and useful at the moment.