Is God Worthy?

Before answering that question, one must make a decision about determining worth.  If I want to assign worth to an object, I would ask myself questions such as:  What is that object good for?  Is there a use for it?  How easily can it be obtained?  —the rarer the object, the more value it might have. 

The revelation I received had to do with a simple scripture in Leviticus 22.  That chapter contains instructions about proper offerings to the Lord.  Nowhere in the instructions did God say sacrifices needed to be done in a particular way because He is worthy.  There is nothing that says that God deserves the best.   Nothing about why sacrifices needed to be without blemish. 

We tend to do things quid pro quo.  If God does things the way we like, He becomes worthy of our praise.  He, then, deserves our worship.  We offer sacrifices to God based on how we judge Him to be.  If we see Him as weak, we give defective offerings.  Why not--what has God done for me lately?

The best analogy I could think of is the coronation of a king or queen.  Say that Queen Elizabeth retires and Prince Charles is crowned King of England.  Whether people believe Prince Charles is a worthy monarch or not makes absolutely no difference.  Prince Charles would receive a royal crown, not a paper crown from Burger King.  It has absolutely nothing to do with credentials, experience or even capacity for ruling.  Simply being king is enough.  Period.  Isn’t God due at least as much?

In the church, there is a warped perspective.  People stand in judgment of God to determine His worth.  God’s worthiness of praise or worship or honor is not based on our determination of how He has lived up to our standards for a god.  That is completely immaterial.  Neither does He wait for us to decide what we should give Him as though we are sitting in the seat of judgment. 

As ministers, we tend to try to prove to the people that God is worthy.  We tell them all the great things God has done or even share His attributes.  The people respond by making a judgment based on their carnal thinking of what God is worth. 

Throughout Leviticus 22, God tells why people are required to give their best.  It has nothing to do with what they think about God.  He simply says: “I am Yahweh.”  “I am God”  “I am the Lord” 

Leviticus 22:31-33:  “You are to keep My commands and do them; I am Yahweh.  You must not profane My holy name; I must be treated as holy among the Israelites.  I am the Lord who sets you apart, the One who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord.”

The church needs to stop trying to defend the Lord God as if He were up for election.  When we do that, we waste our breath and demean God by bringing Him down to the judgment of man.  Instead, we must declare His Holy Name and let the people suffer the consequences if they choose not to reverence Him.

In this apostate age in which we live, humanity expects God to be at their beck and call.   But that is not how any kingdom works.  When the king calls, his subjects must respond, or else!  How much more so with the Heavenly Kingdom.  Yes, we walk boldly into the throne room of grace but we must never forget that we are in the presence of GOD!

In sharp contrast, there is one place in scripture that loudly declares the worthiness of the Lord that is completely based on works.  [I see a coronation correlation]  I think that should be enough for anyone. 

Rev.  5:9-10:  And they sang a new song:  You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slaughtered, and You redeemed [people] for God by Your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation.  You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth.

My prayer:

Lord, I have heard the report about You;  Lord, I stand in awe of Your deeds.  Revive [Your work] in these years; make [it] known in these years.  In [Your] wrath remember mercy!             Habakkuk 3:2

nlh

2/1/12