Under The Watchful Eye of God – Second Commandment

Under the Watchful Eye of God

The Second Commandment

Exodus, 20.4, 5; Deuteronomy 5.8, 9

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them…”

Worship, after all, is about God.

In our heart of hearts, of course, we understand that worship is about God. It’s about ascribing worth to Him (“worth-ship”) through praise, thanksgiving, admission of our failings and His majesty and mercy, offering gifts, hearing His Word, and embracing His will. Worship is about God. And though we may have a difficult time keeping this in mind, God does not. In Psalm 50 Asaph envisions the Lord coming among His people as they gather for worship in order to inspect their work. He accepts all their external rituals – their prayers and offerings – as being right in line with what He prescribes. But He warned them they were in danger of their worship being rejected. The reason? Their hearts were not right before Him. Worship in Israel had become merely mechanical, lacking any deep sense of gratitude and obedience. They people only worked as hard in worship as their own needs dictated. They had failed to consider what God was really seeking from Him, and the result was that His anger against them was the same as that which He manifested toward idolaters.

Pray

Lord, let my worship be acceptable to You. Help me learn to worship fully, completely, intelligently, and from the heart, so that I don’t limit You in any way in the worship I offer. Thank You, Lord, for being so very worthy of all the praise, thanks, gifts, attention, and devotion I have to give.

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.