God has entrusted us with articles intended to worship Him. What are these articles? They might shock you, as they don’t rank on any standard Christian chart.
What makes a vessel of worship? Well ultimately, vessels used for worship come from the earth. Raw materials encrusted within rock, which need to be freed, fired and forged. I want to present to you a living reality of this beyond just gold and silver items that are used in churches and temples.
I have had many things in my heart that became encrusted, which God has worked to free, fire and forge to create vessels of honor. As long as they remain encrusted, they stay separated from their intended use. But they have been entrusted to me for worship.
A hypothetical example: Say the raw element of God’s choosing is the heartbreak of the abuse from a sibling. A young man was relentlessly harassed and physically assaulted by an older brother. This happened throughout his childhood and continued into young adulthood. That this abuse is an entrusted element of worship. Painful, yes, and wrongly done, but God entrusted him with it for worship. He worked it into this man’s life to have it one day serve to worship Him.
This seems harsh and cruel, but to grasp this, you have to understand the whole plan. A gold vessel doesn’t come into the service of the King without an extreme process. Time, work and forming have to be done before it is suitable for service. This is the way it is with all the treasures of darkness. I have the power and choice to make it a vessel of honor or dishonor. It is my choice, in God’s hands.
Yes, I believe painful situations, even life crises, can be brought forth as gold to worship God. Joseph from the Bible was a man who was entrusted with articles of worship. He even has the same situation as my hypothetical scenario. Joseph was to glorify God in the forging fire of family hatred. He was to worship the King of Kings in and because of the forming. When Joseph worshiped God in and because of the forging, he glorified God as sovereign God.
It was while I was in the Word this morning that I came across Ezra 7:19. A rather obscure scripture, but while listening to the Voice, I had an explosion of seeing. God takes from within darkness:
Deliver to the God of Jerusalem all the articles
entrusted to you for worship
in the temple of your God.
Ezra 7:19 NLT
Gold articles can become consecrated vessels of worship. So I asked, what is the process of sanctification? This gold has to be mined from within the earth. Then it’s extracted from the surrounding materials and fired to remove the impurities. Next it’s poured and beaten out to form and fashion a vessel. The vessel is then chosen as sanctified.
So how does this all relate to life? I am seeing that vessels of worship didn’t start this way. They were worked into their form. God tells me what worship is. Life crisis? Tragedy? Difficult situations? Can we really have worship erupt from these sufferings? What about my Hosanna tapes, isn’t that worship?
I believe that the yielded heart of a beloved disciple can flood the halls with amazing worship when they thank God and worship Him as God in the trials of life.
John, excellent! Thank you!
[…] article Entrusted for Worship was about an aspect of worship that goes completely counter to our natural instinct to survive. […]
“while listening to the Voice…” – that’s the secret, isn’t it, John? I’m very familiar with family hatred and tragedies, but one Voice rises above it all – the only Voice that matters. And it’s only His Voice that offers rest and peace; a way to get through; a reason to trust and love “even if.” When tempted to despair, get irritated or frustrated with trials, my Shepherd says, “Shhhh…come unto Me…” and if He causes me to obey, all other voices are silenced. May we all have ears to hear so that we can respond in worship to the… Read more »
Are your Hossana music tapes worship?
🙂
Once upon a time, I believed singing christian songs was worship. I even helped others to believe their singing christian songs was worship. I helped building “christian worship” and making it “happen.”
Some years went on, and I left the “christian worship” role. Even some more years afterwards, a book called “Adoration” came to me. From that day on I have dared not think singing songs is worship.
Nowadays, I sing christian and non-christian songs to praise the Singer. Probably some Hosanna music too.
😉
Thank The Lord for the Wisdom He has given you. Yes the flesh will run from the fire, justify it, rationalize it even go to the furthest reach that god wants me to run from the fire and has provided a way of escape for me. The flesh goes to extrodinary measures for reasons not to go through it. But when it becomes a pattern of fleeing for my life I am in danger so says the flesh. God is about to purify us so we can be cleansed of all the dross and soon it replaces the flesh with… Read more »
Amen and Amen! Thank you John!
What joy seeps in, when in one of those dark nights, when the Father is “mining” one of those articles of worship he brings some unexpected light, hope, a lifting of the heart. Thank you Father for John and the “explosion of seeing”