Psalms 138:5

and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD.

A couple times a year during a miserable round, I think to myself this just isn’t fun anymore. I consider all of the other things I could be doing instead of putting myself through the pains of bad golf. It never fails when the next weekend comes around, I find myself excited to get back on the course and find some sort of redemption. That hope and excitement for something better brings us back every time.

The hope we have through Christ and the excitement of a sanctified and redeemed life brings us to the church house. Like a magnet, we are drawn to the singing of the Songs of Zion and the preaching of the word which proclaims the unsearchable riches only found in that Word.

Our worship of God is something of enjoyment more than an obligation. We have obligations to pay taxes, work a job, and make monthly house payments. These are things we don’t necessary want to do, but have a contractual obligation to fulfill. Conversely, the worship of our Savior is something we desire, but have no secular obligation to do so.

The dedicated believer spends Sundays engaging in recreation. “Recreation” to the redeemed means we are allowing God to create us over anew. We submit ourselves voluntarily to this change. The more we submit, the greater is the transformation. Spurgeon once preached that “God will not have slaves to grace His throne.” Believers don’t have to be reminded that the church doors are open. A saint of God who was a pillar of our church used to tell about friends or relatives who would routinely visit an hour or so before she left for evening worship service. She would immediately inform them, “I leave for church at 5:45. You can either go to church with me or wait on me until I return.” That’s a great testimony. She found a greater joy worshipping her Savior than she did visiting with a friend.

Spurgeon went on to proclaim that the strength of every church lies in its unknown members. The “unknown members” are those who attend not because they teach a Sunday School class or lead singing, but they are in the church because they want to worship their Savior. Additionally, he felt the soul of the music that is sent from earth to heaven is sung by unknown singers. These are the singers who don’t have to look at the hymnal because they sing these songs every day as they labor and know them by heart. What a wonderful song we have to sing! The Psalmist at 84:5 declared, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.” This verse refers to the men of Israel who had the strength to travel much distance from different parts of the land to Jerusalem to worship. These men had a desire, an inclination and a readiness to worship God. Their heart was in it! Let’s worship our Savior with heart each day.