One of the biggest challenges to God-centered worship has been and always will be self-centered worship, or put more plainly—worship of self. This was the great sin of Lucifer (Satan) that got him thrown out of the presence of God forever. Biblical worship of God involves fear and reverence for Him leading to prostration—falling on our knees before Him. But what does prostration—a gesture of humility, imply for us in all things? Repeatedly, Scripture teaches that in order for our worship to be genuine we must depend upon, or place our trust in God.

We live in a culture of self-reliance. This philosophy is taught to us in our schools, in the popular media, in the world of business, by many parents, and is championed by what the bible calls “the flesh.”  Because this is our natural tendency—reliance or dependence upon God is supernatural. One of the great obstacles to trusting in God occurs in our mind. We know that we live in a world of cause and result. Each action we take has direct results and consequences. Yet as Scripture teaches, God is working simultaneously in every thought and action to ultimately bring about His results (consider Joseph’s life, Genesis 50:20).  Although we are very limited in our understanding, abilities, and existence, God is transcendent or infinite in His. Therefore, God alone is ultimately worthy of our trust and dependence.

Although we may know this, the turn from worshiping self to worshiping God is ultimately life-long and can be very challenging. However, I want to share today how God has and is working in me to accomplish this. Notice that I did not say, this is how I learned to worship God, OR here is what I did to get my worship right before God. No—God is the agent that produces this change and it is never of any merit of our own that we learn it.

LEARNING HUMIILITY THROUGH TRIALS
For many of us, when we encounter trials in life our first thoughts are not of James 1:2-4. Instead we wish that things were different and tend to compare our lives to those whose lives seem to be going much better. Only now at 44, am I really learning to take James seriously—that joy can really be our response to trials.

Back in 1996 God called me to attend seminary, and the call was joyfully confirmed through abundant financial assistance. My plans after seminary? To serve full time in church and build a thriving Christ-centered music ministry. However, life can offer some bumps in the road, right? And so I was let go from my first position due to some advice from a church-growth expert. My second go at this dream was incredibly tough as well, but I initiated the departure in obedience to God’s leading. Then it hit me—I was falling into the statistic that everyone talks about—most ministers only last two years in a given church.  How could this happen? I thought I had so much promise—my scholarships, grades, and encouragement from others all seemed to say so. I thought that God had chosen me for service to him through music and worship ministry.

It was then 2004. The next year, as the result of a spiritual gifts and temperament test and much prayer, I sensed that God was calling me to teach. He told me to go back to Southern Seminary and earn my doctorate. Here God would begin teaching me that it was by His merit and hand that any success  would come, not my own. Fast forward—in 2012 after much work, further trials, marriage, and a baby along the way, the D.M.A. program was finished.

TRUSTING GOD WHEN THINGS DON’T MAKE SENSE – WHAT IS GOD DOING HERE?
So, I began vigorously applying for teaching positions in music at universities across the country. Well, by the time 2015 rolled around, I began to really be concerned. These events just didn’t make any sense to me at all. I knew I had followed God to seminary the first and second times. I knew that He must be up to something—something that couldn’t be experienced without these events unfolding the way that they had in my life. I also knew that up to this point I had not really trusted God with the main events of my life. Sure, I had trusted him for my eternal salvation, but death was a long way off, right? How could I trust him now to make a substantial difference in my life where I could see him moving? How could I better experience the transformed life that Christ promises?

BECOMING AWARE OF GOD’S PRESENCE
Then a shift began to happen. I have a family member who is a Christian counselor. I was talking with him on the phone one night and I told him, “I don’t know how to trust in God.” He simply responded, “Ask God to teach you how to trust him.” So I did. The Holy Spirit led me from then on to tell God that I trust him whenever a difficult situation would arise. He also told me, “Shawn, when you do this [and mean it], it frees me to bless you.”

I started noticing that there was a direct response from God when I initiated trust. What I mean is that God was meeting me with his provision in some way in each situation when I would express trust. Not only would he equip me with peace—oftentimes there were events (sometimes several) that took place surrounding a given situation that made it very clear that God was at work. So what was I learning? Simply what I mentioned earlier—that God is the only one worthy of our ultimate trust. I was also learning the kind of existence that should be normal for the Christian—experiencing His presence in concrete ways—walking in the Spirit. I was learning to be aware of Him day by day in the fabric of life, not just during corporate worship or time set aside for personal prayer and Scripture reading.

TRUSTING GOD INSTEAD OF ANXIOUSLY STRIVING—PROCESS IS WHAT COUNTS IN THE KINGDOM
Not only do we live in world of self-reliance, we also live in a world that is very product oriented. In other words, in the marketplace what matters is not how much homework, footwork, or blood, sweat and tears that you pour into something—results are what really count. The problem with this system is that it literally trains us to think that results are all that matter. In the Christian life, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Proverbs 3: 5 and 6  us:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

These verses clearly teach us that it is our dependence upon God that matters—upon what Scripture teaches and what he reveals to us through prayer—and the two never conflict. The principles taught in Scripture always align with what the Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts. When we rely upon God in this way, in our heart we are bowing to him as King of the universe. When we worry or anxiously strive for results in this life, then we put ourselves on the throne—as if this can be done. John 15 reminds us of how to cultivate the proper relationship with God—that it is abiding in Christ that we bear fruit for the kingdom. Biblical worship of God is all about process. The results are up to God himself.

CONCLUSION – THINGS TO REMEMBER
Although God is clearly the one who deepens trust in the heart of the disciple of Christ, there are a few things that I want to encourage you to remember:

1. Praying and asking God to teach you how to trust him, is of the Spirit, not the flesh. This would never happen if God did not initiate the desire for greater trust in your heart.
2. Trust is surrender, never manipulation. I believe that as I began the turn to rely upon God in the events of my daily life that he chose to encourage me greatly in the first steps I was taking. Trusting God can feel like jumping off into an abyss—it is scary at first, so God was encouraging further trust with quick results. Sometimes we may have to trust God with things that we will never fully understand or see resolved until we get to heaven.
3. Anxious striving takes humility to overcome. We must turn away from our worrying, and still our minds in God’s presence. This should happen in increasing frequency throughout the day, as we place our trust in him. Consider Psalm 46:10, “Be Still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
4. When trials come, remember that these serve as James 1 teaches, to test our faith and make us “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
5. Trust God at all times, remembering that when things don’t make sense to us—this is because God is God and we are not. Only He can see the master plan!
6. Becoming aware of God’s presence and his work through you is a big part of worshiping him.
7. Remember that the process of life lived in relationship with God according to Scripture is what really matters.
8. Meditate often on the Psalms to remind yourself that when we are thinking and living rightly then God is at the center of everything we do. I love Psalms 46, 62, 27, and 131.
9. Question: What else is involved in worshiping God rather than ourselves?