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Realizing the presence, promise, and power of the Kingdom of God.
The DEEP

Worship

is from the heart.

Exodus 15:1-10 (ESV)

Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, “I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name.

“Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble. At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’ You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.”

I have a granddaughter who likes to make up songs. I suspect this began with randomly picking the animals that lived on Old MacDonald’s Farm. It’s always a hoot. “And on this farm he had a …

lion. E I E I O. With a … roar roar here and a roar roar there …”

Now almost anything can happen. Her heart pours forth to some familiar tune. It’s never boring.

What Moses does here is typical of God’s people. Hannah sings as she dedicates her son Samuel to the LORD (1 Sam. 2:1-10). Mary sings the magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). As soon as Zechariah’s tongue is loosed, a song springs forth (Luke 1:67-79).

And don’t forget the Bible’s songbook – Psalms.


This isn’t really about singing; it’s about worship. Worship is from the heart. The singing is merely a symptom. We are used to worship on Sundays – led by someone else.

That’s fine but if we never break into worship on our own, we’re missing something.

Prayer time should include worship. This doesn’t have to involve singing (for sure if you’re as off-key as I am). Worship isn’t quite the same as praise.

Sure, praise is included but so are things like confession and declarations of love and devotion. Make up a poem or song about God – or about your joy. Use Moses’ song as a model of how to do this. You can use any tune – Hallelujah, or Somewhere Over the Rainbow, or even a theme song (e.g., to Gilligan’s Island).

OK, not that.


The weekly study guides, which include discussion questions, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

Mike Slay

As a mathematician, inventor, and ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in America, Mike Slay brings an analytical, conversational, and even whimsical approach to the daily study of God's Word.

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