The Sense of Awe In Worship

When the Lord God is encountered in glory and majesty-high, holy, and lifted up-the worshiper is filled with a sense of awe and experiences an abandonment of self in the divine presence. The biblical words for worship mean, literally, to bow, bend the knee, fall prostrate-gestures of awe and self-negation, the creature's recognition of the surpassing majesty and worth of his or her Creator. Worship ascribes glory to God; it occurs when the vision of his glory is conveyed to the worshiper, evoking the response of fear and trembling before the holy radiance. True worship lays bare the "great gulf fixed" between the divine and the human, the sacred and the profane, king and subject, covenant giver and covenant people-and then moves toward the bridging of that gap through the gracious initiative of the Holy One. The Scriptures set the pattern for worship at this level of intensity in the covenant ceremony on Mt. Sinai; in the Psalms; and in the testimony of visionaries like Isaiah, Eze…