Psalm 138 - Wholehearted Worship

I'm going to invite you this morning to Psalm 138. We're going to be together today, Psalm 138, and we're going to use this Psalm to deal with a very critical topic in the life of believers. But it's a topic that sometimes I'm afraid that we use it so frequently that it's become a junk drawer word in Christianity. And that is the idea of worship, really. What does it mean to be a wholehearted worshiper of the Lord?

One of the things I think is important to know about worship is that what you ultimately worship will determine who you become. And if you really want to know what you're worshiping, I think we can easily say, oh Lord, I worship you and lift our voices in song to the Lord. But really, if you want to know ultimately what you're worshiping, just look at where you dedicate your time and your resources, because that will indicate what you ultimately bow down to.

One of the things I think is important for us to realize as people is that it is impossible not to be a worship being. God has created you to be a worship being. And when I say that, what we mean by that is that all of us look to something to give us worth and meaning, something to give us purpose in life, and whatever you're surrendering to in order to give you worth and purpose is ultimately what you're worshiping. It could be an object, it could be a person, it could be yourself. But we're dedicating our time and resources to something, and it's shaping who we are. And in light of that, it is impossible to not be worshiping. And what you worship determines what you're becoming.

And the primary thing that you are designed to worship ultimately should be the Lord, because the Lord has shaped you for his purposes. And it's not until your life is completely given over to him that you discover the purpose for which you're created in the Lord. And so when we talk in terms of worship, it's important to know you could be worshiping anything, but ultimately what you're designed for is to find your worship in the Lord. In fact Saint Augustine said it like this: you have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.

There is an ancient story told of a man named Herbal who lived some four centuries ago. And on one particular day, the priests of the temple where he worshiped told him to bring his family and to bring a sacrifice. Herbal worshiped the God of fertility and the God of death. Ironically, even though he worshiped the God of death, it was for life. And we might hear things like that today and kind of just turn our eyes from it and think how foolish, roll our eyes towards it and think how foolish someone could worship the god of fertility and the God of death. But in an agricultural society, they were dependent upon the god of fertility not to just provide the idea of crops. They were dependent upon crops, but also life itself. Like when you think about four centuries ago, for survival, you were dependent upon reproduction in order to see that from the ground with food and also from your family to have children. That was your retirement plan. That was your protection plan. The size of your clan determined the safety that you had during that time period. And it also determined how well you were going to be cared for as you aged in life. And so the gods of fertility were often worshiped in different civilizations. And Herbal was just like the typical people of his day.

And so the priest asked him to come and bring a sacrifice with his family. And when he arrives, he finds out from the priests that his so-called gods are demanding not just any sacrifice, but the sacrifice of his child. And so he offers his child as a sacrifice. But then the priest announced that day that they have a new temple prostitute, and they said there's going to be one individual that would be selected to spend their week with the new temple prostitute. And the priests call forth the name of the individual, which was the man named Herbert, and his wife leaving the temple of their gods that day was reeling. All that took place because she arrived that day with her family, and she leaves with absolutely no one. And she's shaking her head saying about her husband, if he had worshiped different gods, he would have been a different man. What you worship determines who you're becoming.

Now, it may be that we don't worship the gods of death and fertility. But I want you to know the struggles of humanity have remained the same. It's just we might have renamed the gods that we follow. In fact, Tim Keller wrote a book on idolatry. And within the context of that book he just acknowledges this. He says, if anger is your struggle, your God might be control. And if anxiety is your struggle, your God might be security. If jealousy is your struggle, your God might be significance or approval. If guilt is your struggle, your God might be your reputation. And if despair is your struggle, what has happened to you has already revealed what your idol may be. Your worship determines the kind of person you are and the kind of person that you are becoming.

And life might throw at us all sorts of challenges. But those challenges really become a place of reflecting for you and for me. What is it that I ultimately bow down to? In fact, I think one of the most beautiful places for us to have revealed to us where our idols are is found in our relationships with others. You know, it's easy to say, I worship the Lord by your mouth, by your confession. But oftentimes it can be something totally different than the way that I live my life. And the Bible reminds us, if you want true evidence of what you ultimately worship, look at the way that you interact in your relationships.

And it's one of the things that we often use to describe this as a church is the fruit of the spirit, the way that the spirit makes itself known in our lives. And when you look at what the fruit of the spirit is, it's relational — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness — meaning when God's really working in my life, it's more than just an intellectual understanding of who he is. When my life is really given over to him, my wholehearted worship, it's seen in the way that I live my life regardless of how people choose to treat me or not. It's easy to say I'm a kind person when there's no one else around to contest that. I am patient all day long when I'm by myself. And then you give me four kids, and then I start to learn something about me. Is my heart really reflecting the fruit of the spirit? Is my life really given over to him?

So what does it look like for me to have wholehearted worship? We're going to talk about it today in three responses. We're going to answer the question, what does wholehearted worship look like? Number two, what fuels that wholehearted worship? And number three, what cannot stop wholehearted worship. And we're going to look at it from a point of excuses — what are the excuses that we can raise that's going to prevent me from that wholehearted worship that God calls me to? Because what I worship ultimately determines what I'm becoming. And if I'm made for the Lord, I want to make sure that I'm not just saying I'm worshiping you, Lord, but my life is given over to him.

So what does it look like to have wholehearted worship in my life? I'm going to give you just the first three blanks in your notes. This is going to be evidence in your life that you have wholehearted worship. What should I have demonstrated? Number one is this: thanksgiving. Number two, surrender. And number three, adoration. All three of those aspects are a demonstration, ultimately, of what I really worship.

Maybe we could ask the question, if we were to say today, what are you most thankful for? What do you adore? What do you surrender to? Your time and your resources are evidence of what you're ultimately surrendered to and what's really determining the course of your life and what's shaping you. But if I were to say to you, what are you thankful for, and you start to write that list, how quickly would the Lord be on that? Or how quickly would the things that you're thankful for direct itself back to the Lord?

And David in writing for us Psalm 138 is giving to us the evidence of what real worship looks like by simply saying in Psalm 138, verse one, I give you thanks, O Lord. Meaning, I'm recognizing that the good things that I have came from you, God. And I'm taking the time to acknowledging it. I didn't deserve it. And when it comes to a relationship with God, God, you don't have to give me your presence in life, but you choose to lavish on me your grace anyway. God, what I'm deserving of is not what I'm receiving, but rather what I'm experiencing in you is your grace. Because God, left to myself, I'm worthy of your wrath. You didn't have to come near me. You didn't have to have relationship with me. Everything that I have in light of who you are is a gift.

And so it's worth asking the question as you just reflect on your week. Was there even a moment in your week where you just stopped and said, God, thank you. I don't want to sound like I'm some ungrateful person by just complaining that things don't go my way when I want them to, but I realize any good thing that passes through my hands is really a gift from you. And so God, thank you. You look back on your week, is there an evidence there that you were a worship being of the Lord, that your heart's truly given over to him, that there was expressed in your life a place of thankfulness? And thankfulness is recognizing God for what he's done.

But even more than that, the psalmist goes on and he says, with my whole heart before the gods I sing your praise. I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name. And so he's recognizing something important here. In talking about the Lord in terms of before God, the idea of Lord here is the word Yahweh. It's the specific name of God that was given to Moses back in Exodus chapter three, the particular name of God — the Great I Am. And then he says in this phrase, there before the gods — this is the word Elohim. And the idea of Elohim is a generic name. It could be broadly in the sense that it could refer to any god. Or it could even refer to an earthly ruler. It's anyone with any authority over you, whether you permit them to have that authority, or they are some sort of authoritative figure over your life. And the context of the verse really determines if the word Elohim might be referring specifically to the God that we follow as Christians, or just an idol or some sort of authority.

And what David is saying in this passage, out of anything that might determine who I am, Lord, it is your authority alone that I am giving my whole heart. This is why we're talking about wholehearted worship. It is your authority alone that I'm bowing down to. It's you, God, that I want to shape who I am.

Maybe in terms of surrender, we could think of it like this as Christians — to say, you know, there is a difference in understanding what it's like to walk into a hotel or maybe your Airbnb versus your own home. When you go into a hotel or an Airbnb, you recognize you might have rented a space for a season. And the things you bring into that space, you get to bring out with you because they belong to you. But truthfully, that space isn't yours. You have control or domain over something for just a season, whatever the season is that you rented it. And then there's the idea of a home. And when you walk into the home, you recognize that all of it belongs to you because it's yours.

And there's a way in which we worship God that we treat our relationship with him like a hotel room rather than a home, where we might walk in and just a part of who we are we give God access to. But when we talk about surrendering, what we're saying is, God, I'm turning over the keys to my entire home to you. Whatever it is that you want to determine, however you want to shape me, whatever you're calling me to in the course of life, rather than looking to anything else for direction, I'm saying, God, it's you. Lead me. I'm shaped for your purposes. It's not until my life is surrendered to you that I'm going to discover that worship is about you determining my steps. Worship is about you transforming who I am, because God, I am made for relationship in you.

In addition to the idea of thanksgiving and surrender comes the thought of adoration. And you're seeing the psalmist say this: I sing your praise and give thanks to your name. The idea of name is connected to identity. And so the psalmist is saying, look, God, I recognize not just what you do — in thanksgiving — but God, I also recognize something far more important than that, which is who you are. I'm not just thankful for what I receive from you. I am thankful that I get you. I get a relationship with you. Because God, you are not obligated to owe me anything.

And I want us to know that it is important to have thanksgiving as a part of your worship. But if I had to rank the difference between the idea of thanksgiving and adoration, I think thanksgiving should lead us to adoration. But if I'm ranking the two of these, I would say adoration rises above thanksgiving. And the reason for that is, even though you might be thankful for the things that you have, the intentions behind the thankfulness can be misleading. It can be unhealthy. Meaning I can be thankful for what I received, not because of who God is, but because of what I want. And my idea of coming to God with thankfulness isn't to recognize the worth of having a relationship with God in and of himself, but it's because what I'm truly interested in is serving me rather than the Lord. And so, God, I'm thankful that you gave me this, because the most important thing in our relationship is me. And therefore I'm just simply manipulating you in order to get what I want. So yeah, I'm thankful, but the root of my thankfulness is not based on who you are. It's based on who I am.

I mean, even in gathering in worship today, the motivation of gathering with God's people and worshiping the Lord could be primarily driven out of a selfish motive rather than the Lord himself. I think if we've got brokenness in our life and we realize that coming to the Lord is a wonderful thing, and when God heals that brokenness — like we should be thankful for that. We've got some relational wounds in life, some marriage struggles. We're trying to figure out what to do with our kids. I think the Lord is a wonderful thing to turn to. And when the Lord gives wisdom in those circumstances, to be thankful for that. But to never fall short of the adoration, because it's not about the gift itself, but the giver of those good gifts.

Maybe I could use an illustration like this. Once there was a parent who went on a business trip for several weeks. And anytime this particular parent went on a business trip, the kids knew that when the parent came home the parent always brought gifts for the kids. And on this particular trip, the parent went to a foreign land. And so the kids were excited about what the possibilities might be that their parent would bring home for them, because they were gone for a longer time, and they went to a place that's unfamiliar to them. So they're excited. And when the parent finally returns home, their two children run to the front door to greet them. But one kid immediately ran past the parent and straight to the suitcase and asked the question, what did you get me? But the other kid runs to the parent and says, I'm so thankful you're home. The motivation of your worship matters. Is it just simply, God, what do I get? Or is it, God, who you are?

In Luke chapter 17, there's the story told by Luke about the ten lepers who were cured. Ten lepers encountered Jesus in Luke chapter 17. And Jesus healed them all. He cured them all. But truth be told, only one leper was fully healed. Nine of them were cured — ten of them were cured — but only one was truly healed. And the one that was truly healed was the one that returned to Jesus. Ten lepers cured by Christ, and they all went away. But one of them returned, and in adoration recognized who the Lord truly was. And in so doing, it was easy to see that it was that heart that wasn't just thankful for what they received, but they adored who the Lord was.

Now, in examining what wholehearted worship is about, you think in terms of thanksgiving and surrender and adoration. You know, sometimes we in a religious sense will look at a list like that and think, oh, I'm terrible. I don't even remember one time this week where I just said, thank you, Lord, let alone adored him. And so we look at that and say, maybe I'm not fully giving my life over to God the way that I should. And I've got to try harder this week. I've got to do more. I can't believe this. I'm disappointing God. He's so angry at me.

And I just want you to know, if that is you, you need to stop it. Because the last thing that we want to do in understanding what real worship is is just lather on the guilt. That's not going to produce the healthy result that God desires in you. And to be honest, sometimes in coming into a place like this and we hear, oh, God wants thanksgiving, God wants your adoration, God wants your surrender, and it's for your benefit, we might be coming in the door and saying to ourselves, but you don't know where I've been. And I've had a lot of people promise me things, whether in relationship in general, or even in a religion that I might have been a part of. And I'm reluctant to just want to give God my whole heart. I mean, how do I know that if I devote my whole self to this, that it's not going to lead to disappointment that I've already received on the other paths that I've walked in life. And so if I'm putting a step forward, I just want you to know there's nothing but absolute hesitation in my life.

And I want you to know, if that's you, that honesty is beautiful. But at the same time, where you're looking for a solution is all wrong. It's the reason I say, if you're not thankful like you should, if you're not adoring like you should, if you're not surrendered like you should, the worst thing that you could do is lather on the guilt and think, I've got to try harder. Because the answer to healthy worship has never truly been about you, but losing who you are in the greatness of who he is and surrendering it. So even if you come forward with just the tiniest of faith today, the Bible says that faith of a mustard seed is what moves mountains. It's not impressing God with the size of your faith. It's allowing your life to be impressed with the greatness of who your God is.

So if you come to Psalm 138 and you read these verses and you were to say to David, David, why would you give your life this way? David responds to you and gives you the answer in the next question. What fuels wholehearted worship? David gives us this one little word — for — which is to say, if you want to know what motivates me, it's because this. And this is what he says. It's because of your steadfast love and your faithfulness.

Now what David is saying — this is the next blank in your notes — it's the character of God. If I'm coming in reluctantly and I don't know, do I really want to surrender? Do I have that adoration like I should? Do I have that thanksgiving? What David is saying is, if your soul needs to be there, what you need to do is understand that God has created you for relationship. We're not here this morning just to get information. It's nice to know what the Bible says, but we're here for transformation. A life-giving relationship with the Lord. God made you for him. God is a living and breathing God that desires to be made known in your life. And so what we need to discover in order to endear our hearts to him is to get closer to the character of who this God is. And this is what David's saying. This God never fails you. His steadfast love, his faithfulness to you — even when you're unfaithful, God is always reliable.

The character of God endears us to him, but not just the character of God. He goes on and says it like this. It's also the Word of God. He combines both of these at the very end. He says, because if you want to know why I worship God this way, it's because of his steadfast love and faithfulness, and because you have exalted above all things your name and your word. It's your name, your identity, who you are, and your word that becomes the foundation and invites my soul in to adore the greatness of who you are. As I spend more time with you, God, as I'm connecting to you, as I'm knowing you, my heart grows in this adoration for you.

So if my adoration isn't going well, if my thankfulness isn't going well, if my surrender isn't going well, I would just say this: get to know your God. Because where you're spending your time, where you're devoting your resources, is determining who you're becoming. And there's no greater place to do that than with the Lord. And David is acknowledging this — if this is where you need to grow, the answer isn't try harder. The answer is look deeper in him. Because in the wealth of who God is, in that richness, you realize the gift that it is to know the Lord.

And sometimes life, as Christians, will try to beat it out of us. Maybe you claim to be a follower of Christ, but life will try to stifle that heart, extinguish that flame. And we need reminded of psalms like this that stir the emotions, the affections of our life to what we really have in God, to awaken our eyes afresh again to the richness of a relationship with him.

I get it. If you come to Alpine Bible Church and maybe you've had a rocky road, maybe people have burned you, maybe you've entrusted yourself to things that have left you disappointed, and maybe that was even a path of religion. And now you come in here and I tell you this morning, give your whole life to Jesus. And there is this place in our hearts where we are reluctant to want to entrust ourselves to anything again, because we've been burned. And before we want to entrust anything again, we feel like we need to know every detail we can. And I think it's critical for us to all know that that's impossible. It is impossible to know everything. And so you're left to one of two choices. Either you become a recluse and try to be as independent as possible from anything, which is an unhealthy way to live. Or you take a risk and say, you know what, there's enough evidence here for me to move forward.

And I want you to know, in Christianity, rather than needing to know everything about Christianity, we say it like this — that there are really two pillars that if they can be trusted, then you can take whatever size faith you have and turn it over to the Lord and begin to grow in that adoration for who he is. And those two places are Christ and his Word. It's getting to know Jesus. The Bible tells you in Colossians chapter two, verse nine, in him the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, meaning if you want to know what God looks like, look to Jesus, because Jesus is God incarnate. The most practical way to do that is to open up the Gospels and start with, say, the Gospel of John, and start reading the Gospel of John and get to know that Jesus and realize it's the same Jesus who rules and reigns today. It's the same Jesus who desires to pursue your heart. God, help me know who you are. And at the same time, trust in your word — the identity of who Christ is is an anchor for our lives, and the Word of God becomes a compass to guide us.

And sometimes there are people who like to speak on behalf of God. And I think you already know this, but let me just say it out loud. A lot of what people say in representation of God is bat crazy. Like they just make it up. They just have a feeling and say based on that feeling, and they didn't give it to God. And the way you determine whether or not it's really of the Lord is, does God's Word say this? Is this really reflective of his nature? There is who God is, and there's what God says. And this becomes critical for us. Even big faith or little faith, no matter if you need your adoration, thanksgiving, that relationship with God to grow as you surrender to him, this becomes the foundation to dive deeper in understanding of who God is and give my heart over to that as he grows my faith in him, as I come to learn his steadfast love.

And in fact, the tactic of the enemy is to work opposite to that, to undermine those things. If you were to go back in the book of Genesis, that's exactly what you would discover with the serpent as Adam and Eve have the first relationship with the Lord. And the serpent said to the woman, it says, Did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? He goes on in verse five, For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God. Here's what the serpent is saying. Is God trying to hold that back from you? He must be holding that back from you because he doesn't have your best interest in mind, because he himself is not good. And because he's not good, how can you trust him? And what the serpent is doing — get this — is attacking the character of God. He doesn't know what's best for you. You know better. So why don't you live life as if you're God? Doubt his nature. Doubt his character.

And then in addition to that, in verse three, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden. But then the serpent said, you won't surely die. Here's God giving them his word. And the serpent saying, not only can you not trust who God is, but you can't trust what God says. You can't trust his word. And the serpent begins to attack these two areas, wanting us to doubt the richness of what we have in the Lord.

But then the psalmist teaches us in response to that, that as we think about the significance of relationship with the Lord, as we think in terms of who he is, and we think in terms of the Word of God, he says that the third fuel for your walk with the Lord is — get this — it's nearness. It's the next blank in your notes. It's the nearness of God. Or if you want to use the theological term, it's the eminence of the Lord.

The psalmist says it this way: on the day I called, you answered me. My strength of soul you increased. Notice as he talks about the strength of soul, he's saying God didn't necessarily change his circumstances, but he strengthened the soul of the individual going through the circumstances. God, I came to you and you gave me what I needed. Here he's talking about the intimacy of the Lord. It's not just about understanding his nature, which is important. It's not just about reading the words on the page of what God's Word says to us, though that is important. But it's also about taking those words on the page and understanding the reality of this God and recognizing it's personal. That the way God cares about this psalmist is the way God also cares about me.

So I'm not here this morning just simply to get information. I'm here this morning to connect to this God who desires to transform my life for his glory and to my blessing, this God who made me for him. And worship becomes that critical component that connects me in relationship to him. And it's when my life is surrendered to this God that I begin to discover it, that my heart rejoices in thankfulness and adoration, not just for what he does, but for who he is. And so the nearness of God becomes critical for us in walking in the joy of that friendship with the Lord.

And maybe we could ask the question, I'm glad the psalmist here is talking about how he called to the Lord and God came near to him. But how do I know God's going to do that for me? Because the answer is always the cross. That is God's passionate pursuit for your life, that he would free you for his purposes in him, that you would have a life-giving relationship with him, as your life would be turned over to him. God, thank you for dying for me. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins at the cross. Thank you for promising me new life in you. That is God screaming at you his passion towards you and his desire for you to belong to him.

So in light of that, what cannot stop wholehearted worship? And we're saying it in this way — what could easily become my excuse, my deterrent from really worshiping God this way?

Well, let me give you number one. We'll either say it's relationships or people. One of the detractors from a life-giving relationship with the Lord, a healthy worship of the Lord, is either relationships with others or people. And David paints it this way in verses 4 to 5. He says, all the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth, and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord. For great is the glory of the Lord.

Here's what David is saying. David, in recognizing relationships can deter us from God — I'm not telling you that if you have people in your life that don't know the Lord, you need to just isolate, build a bunker and hide from unbelieving people. That's not what I'm saying at all. People are not the problem. People are the mission. God is after the hearts of people. And so I think it's important to maintain relationship, but it's also important to recognize how relationship has influence over us.

In fact, I think one of the reasons David goes straight to the idea of a king is because he recognizes there's no greater authority in that land, and people that tend to have authority over us, or that we permit to have authority over us, influence the way that we think and ultimately what we bow to. In fact, if you even go back and read the history of Israel, you'll find as the king went in an ungodly path, so went all the people. The influence of leadership has its effect on people. I mean, we can even look in the last few decades of our own country. It's like people are insane, and then people just follow it and they even justify it. We are influenced heavily by people.

And David is recognizing in this passage that ultimately, no matter how great that influence might be, whether we give them permission or they're just simply an authority that's placed over us, every one of those authorities will bow down to God. So why don't I simply bow down to who you are? Now, in saying that, I'm not saying you need to rebel against every authority in your life. The Bible encourages you to seek peace with all people and to honor those in authority above you, as long as those authorities aren't causing you to walk contrary to the Lord. If someone asks you to do something that conflicts with your faith, you follow your faith. Because ultimately the greatest authority is the Lord. And David is acknowledging this here — God, out of all the influences that could be had, out of all the authorities that we could be under, I recognize that relationships can make this kind of impact, but I'm choosing rather, Lord, to allow you to determine the steps of my life. My heart is surrendered to who you are.

In addition to that, he also recognizes that not only would it be a relationship, but also trouble. For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar. He's reminding us that the process for our growth is seen in humility, to be fully surrendered to him.

And he goes on in verse seven. He says, though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. God, in the midst of trouble, how do I move forward? Because my eyes can get on my trouble rather than who you are. And he's saying to us in verse six, it begins in this place of humility. God is opposed to the proud, the Bible tells you, but he's near to the humble of heart. And in the humble of heart he preserves my life.

Now I want you to know, in the idea of preservation of life, it doesn't always mean in Scripture the longevity of your time here on earth. Some of us might have an extended stay here on earth, some of us might have a shorter stay. But regardless, you're always in the hands of the Lord if you belong to him. And in terms of heaven, you're always in the hands of the Lord regardless. But for those that belong to him, your destiny has been secured in Christ, and so he preserves your life, whether it's in this world or what is to come. It's God who preserves you. And the psalmist is saying, bring whatever trouble, because I know to whom I belong.

So therefore he concludes this way with the last point. The excuse that we can make is a path of uncertainty, saying, God, I don't know what tomorrow is going to be like. And in myself, sometimes, if I'm being honest, I love to try to control it. I want to know the end, Lord. I want to determine every step of my life. Some of us get to that place where we get uncomfortable with uncertainty. But when we see the sweetness of who God is, his steadfast love, his faithfulness, we recognize the one we've endeared our hearts to. And in so doing, we realize, God, I don't have to know it all. All I really need to know is who I belong to and his care for me.

And this is what the psalmist does. He leaves his life in the Lord, knowing that what God desires to produce in him is still unfinished. In verse eight, he says, the Lord will fulfill his purpose for me. Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands. This is what worship is about. Worship is about recognizing, God, I don't know how it's all going to end, but I do know who I will end it with, and it will be you. And I do know whose hands I'm in and your care for me. And so I may not be able to dictate my steps in life, but as long as I'm in your hands, the God who is good, I am entrusting myself to you.

And so the psalmist just ends open-handed, saying, here's the trouble I'm facing, Lord. But rather than despair in this trouble, rather than let people dictate, I choose to worship. It's like the apostle Paul and Silas in the book of Acts chapter 16, when they're in the Philippian jail and they've been beaten and they've been locked in prison. And rather than despair in those circumstances, what do they choose to do? They worship. They lift their voices in worship to God because they know in whose hands they're resting.

Let me give you this last illustration to draw that point. In the 1400s, there was this ginormous marble stone that some sculptors attempted to sculpt an image out of. And a couple of sculptors took their hand at it, and they were unsuccessful in being able to utilize it. And for the next several decades, it just sat there and it was seen as a scrap piece of marble because some people had attempted to use it. There was now a hole in it, and they thought it was never going to be used, maybe just simply for practice for future sculptors, until Michelangelo came along in the 1500s. Michelangelo sculpted the statue of David. And I want you to know I only gave you the headshot because he gets a little promiscuous after that. Just the headshots are all we're getting today.

But one of the things that I think is important to know about this particular sculpture — sometimes you just see the sculpture in and of itself and think, oh, it's a sculpture, it's typical size of any sculpture. But the reason I put this lady next to it is to recognize that this is 17 feet tall. This is a ginormous sculpture. And the attention to detail is exquisite, how Michelangelo did such an incredible job on this sculpture of David.

But when Michelangelo was asked about this particular sculpture and how he created it, he said something along the lines of, you know, I saw an angel within this rock, and I kept chiseling away until its form was set free. And guys, can I tell you that's what worship is about? Other people may look at you as something broken, something that maybe can't be used. But the Lord sees something far more beautiful. And in the hands of the sculptor, we may not know exactly how every detail is going to go along the way, but we know whose hands we've been placed in. And in so doing, we entrust ourselves to him because he's good.

Many things in life can try to deter a heart from the beauty of the Lord. But when you get to know this God in a personal way and you surrender to him with thanksgiving and adoration, the Lord does this incredible work in you, molding you into the image that he desires.