Mankind was made for worship as the plants
were made for growth. His very being pants
for something far beyond himself, above
him and around him, something he can love
and dedicate himself unto with all
his strength and soul, a trusted friend to call
upon in prayer.¹ He needs a deity
to lavish thanks and praise upon, one he
can trust, and turn to in his times of fear,
uncertainty, and doubt; one who will hear
his prayers and show him kindness, steadfast love,
and constant goodness, lifting him above
his trials and fears to heights of joy and peace
where blessedness and boundless hope increase
and he experiences a glimpse of heaven.²
To every human being it is given
to seek such a transcendent anchor for
the soul, a light of truth, a trusted source
of faithfulness and never-failing grace
and peace.

Hence my dilemma: who would place
his hope and trust in me for all of this?
How could I get them to believe the bliss
they seek in life is lodged with me more than
the Deity Himself? I’d need a plan
much more sophisticated, subtle, and
discreet to get the Lord’s redeemed to stand
with me instead of Him. So I began
experimenting, trying out my plan
by stages, until I was certain I
had hit upon the perfect lethal lie
which, custom-fit to every person, could
ensure that they would turn their backs for good
on God, and follow me instead.

The key,
of course, would be to keep sincerity
in place while fostering disobedience in
small increments. No one will count it sin
if he sincerely thinks that he can do
whatever he believes will help him to
exalt the Lord in worship; and if he
can justify his actions by some plea
to reason, changing times, the need to be
more like the folks in his community,
or other explanation, others, though
they may object at first, will simply go
along with him, unable to refute
his reasons, and unwilling to dispute
with him about the worship of the Lord.

Thus I would woo and wean them from the Word
of God, and, having severed that connection,
I would suggest for them a new direction,
that “meets my needs” or “has more meaning for
me”; that “appeals to younger people” or
is simply “new” or “sensitive.” By just
such schemes I would dislodge their feeble trust
in God and in His Word, and set them free
to worship self – which is to worship me!

I blundered early, though I got a laugh
out of that thing about the golden calf.³
For I was just too bold, too in-their-face;
they would be wary about giving place
to idols after that. Prudence required
that I proceed more cautiously. Inspired
by the establishment of priests to bring
to God the people’s daily offerings,
I managed to enthrall the minds of two
of them with something clever they could do,
as they would come to see it, to advance
God’s worship (and which, if it helped enhance
their status in the people’s hearts and eyes,
so much the better).⁴ I let them devise
some “new” approach to burning incense to
the Lord, which He had told them they should do,
but in a certain manner only. Yes,
but would not this “new style” help them to bless
the Lord as well? Well, no, as it turned out:
Two dead, a grieving father left to pout
in silence, and a flustered leader not
quite certain what to do or how he ought
to fix this mess. And put yourself inside
the mind of every other priest beside
those two: would you not be a little wary
of crossing some forbidden line, chary
of leading people in the worship of
a God who, though He protests of His love
for them, would cavalierly (some no doubt
would see it thus) snuff you right out
if you don’t absolutely toe the line
in worship? And would you not set your mind
to make sure that you rigidly enforce
the jots and tittles written in the Source
concerning worship, making worship oh
so formal, oh so fraught with fear, and so
completely lacking in the very thing
God wants His people most of all to bring
to Him in worship: heartfelt thanks and trust?⁵

Thus from the start I made true worship just
a little bit more difficult for all
those dimwits, dolts, and dunces who would call
upon the name of God instead of me:
I set in place a plea for purity
in worship, a determination on
the part of some to make sure all is done
“according to the Book,” a preference for
just the right elements and forms, no more,
no less – and let such things as joy and heart-
felt thanks be secondary to the art
of liturgy, tradition, and “the way
we’ve always done it!” Do I have to say
it outright? Such perverse rigidity
will not please God;⁶ but, oh, it pleases me
to see so many worship leaders vaunt
their legal loyalty to God’s covenant,
exalting thus their faithfulness and wills,
and leading worship that so often kills
communion with the Deity. Let such
their worship be, and it will never touch
the heart of God, nor ever train them in
His love, but only mire them deep in sin.