TODAY IN THE WORD

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Psalm 100:1-5
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TODAY IN THE WORD
We are so accustomed to the traditional holiday of Thanksgiving in the U.S. and Canada (Canadian Thanksgiving is on the second Monday in October) that it is easy to forget that the formal observance doesn't reach to faraway lands. That familiarity was underscored in a humorous way a few years ago when an eager young school teacher in Texas sent her fourth-grade students home with the assignment to explore how Thanksgiving is celebrated in other countries!

That assignment left a classroom full of children's parents mildly perplexed. But the teacher had the right idea. There's no reason to limit our thanksgiving to one day in one corner of the world. Anyone who knows Scripture knows that we certainly did not invent the idea of holding a festival to praise and worship God for His blessings.

Israel's national calendar contained great feasts to celebrate the harvest and commemorate events such as God's deliverance of the nation from Egypt. In addition, the people observed the weekly Sabbath by worshiping God and remembering His provision.

The psalmists also provide us with a literature of thanksgiving, today's psalm being a wonderful example. This is a joy-filled invitation to worship that is extended to ""all the earth"" (v. 1).

We hope the spirit of this psalm is reflected in your Thanksgiving worship today. Gladness and singing should mark the celebration of those who know the Lord and have experienced ""all His benefits"" (Ps. 103:2).

Verses 3-5 of today's text give us more reasons to thank God than we could exhaust in a lifetime. He is our God, our Creator, and our loving Shepherd who cares for us in His pasture.

These are enough to cause the psalmist to enter God's presence with thanksgiving and praise on his lips (v. 4). But there is even more.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Did you find a card pinned to today's study?

You did if you completed the exercise we suggested last Sunday and jotted down a handful of God's attributes you are especially thankful for. Use them today as part of your own worship, and you may even want to share them with others today as part of your testimony (see yesterday's study).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Revelation 19:1-10
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Moody Press author Tony Evans tells of the time he went to the airport in Dallas for a flight to Atlanta. When the airline announced that the flight would be delayed, Dr. Evans decided to get something to eat since he knew there would be no meal on the airplane. But as these things often happen, Dr. Evans was halfway through his sandwich when the announcement came that his flight was beginning to board. He left the snack bar immediately, because his ultimate destination was Atlanta, not Dallas. His purpose in being at the airport was to catch a flight, not to eat.

We need to be reminded of our destination and purpose in being here on earth. One advantage of looking into eternity is that it puts things in perspective. We are destined for heaven, where we will worship and serve God in endless joy. So it doesn't pay to get too tangled up in the passing stuff of this life.

Our text today is one of those passages that remind us of where we are going. Here is our worship in the future, when Christ returns to put down His enemies and inaugurate His kingdom. And we are going to be a part of a special celebration called ""the wedding supper of the Lamb"" (v. 9).

As Christ prepared to ride triumphantly out of heaven (Rev. 19:11), John heard a great shout of joy and praise. Then the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down in worship before God's throne and cried out in praise to Him.

This was followed by another roar from the multitude, overwhelmed with joy that the great wedding supper of Christ and His bride, the church, has finally come. It appears that this event will usher in Christ's millennial kingdom, but whenever it occurs it will be an occasion so glorious that anyone who holds an invitation is pronounced ""blessed"" (v. 9).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
One of the passing things of this life is that refrigerator full of Thanksgiving leftovers.

Are you looking for a good way to put that good food to use other than in endless sandwiches and hash? You could plan a delicious after-Thanksgiving meal this weekend with a few of the people who have encouraged you in your walk with Christ this year.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: John 20:24-29
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Some people must have proof for everything. They won't believe you're engaged until they see your ring, or they ask to see a birth certificate to believe your age. One such skeptic was ""Doubting Thomas,"" one of Jesus' disciples.

It's not that the nickname doesn't fit. Thomas did say concerning Jesus' resurrection: ""Unless I see...I will not believe"" (v. 25). And Jesus rebuked Thomas for his slowness to believe the second time He appeared to the apostles in their locked room.

But Thomas did make the right response when confronted with the risen Christ standing before him. Thomas's confession, contained in today's verse, is the same confession that each of us must make if we are going to be true and wholehearted worshipers of God.

What kind of commitment are we making when we confess Jesus as Lord? We are confessing His absolute authority, His rulership over all--not only over all of creation, but also over us as His people. As our Lord, Jesus Christ is our Master; we are His servants. Servants have no other duty but to obey the word and the will of their master.

Do you see the connection of our servanthood with our worship? We cannot confess Jesus as Lord and truly worship Him, and yet with our next breath express doubt about His Person or His power--or worse yet, refuse to obey Him.

As someone has well said, we cannot say to Jesus as Peter did in Acts 10:14, ""Surely not, Lord!"" One side or the other of this equation must be crossed out, because a servant cannot say to his Master, ""No way,"" ""Not me,"" ""Forget it.""

Does this mean we cannot harbor a second of doubt and still be a worshiper? No, it means that when doubt comes we deal with it. Jesus did not write Thomas off, but neither did He brush off the doubter's failure to believe the power of God.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
We have saved perhaps the best part of today's study for last--the final half of verse 29 in which Jesus pronounced a blessing on those whose faith does not rest on sight.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Matthew 28:1-10
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TODAY IN THE WORD
If you've been to many garage sales featuring ""gently used"" exercise bikes and other fitness equipment for sale, the following statistics won't surprise you. According to recent studies, only twenty-two percent of American adults get enough exercise to produce any lasting health benefits. And apparently our children aren't doing any better. A study at Columbia Children's Hospital in Ohio revealed that today's children are heavier and have significantly higher cholesterol levels than children did fifteen years ago. Unless something changes, according to one of the researchers, three out of every eight American children will eventually die of heart disease.

Those are sobering numbers, and they suggest a question for us to think about in this closing study on worship. What kind of results would be generated if the Holy Spirit were to measure the ""fitness"" level of our worship?

We hope the numbers would be positive. But whatever the case, we want to leave you with the encouraging reminder that worship is a choice of the will, as well as a response of the emotions. This means no power on earth or in hell can keep you from worshiping the Lord.

Mary Magdalene and the other women who met Jesus at His empty tomb are a great example of this. They were wholehearted worshipers of Jesus. The dramatic moment recorded in Matthew 28 was, of course, not the first expression of their commitment to Christ. They had believed and followed Him for some time.

They were also obedient worshipers. We know from Luke 23:56 that on the Saturday Jesus lay in the tomb, they obeyed God's command and observed the Sabbath.

In addition, those faithful women were willing worshipers. They chose to follow Jesus. They came to the tomb that morning of their own accord, not knowing what they would find. And when they saw the resurrected Christ, they readily fell at his feet and worshiped Him (v. 9).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Here's a brief self-evaluation you can take today to help measure your worship ""fitness."" You might rate yourself from 1 to 10 on each of these questions.

1. Think about the priority that worship has in your life. Is it only nice, or a necessity?

2. How about the practice of worship? Is it part of your daily routine, or only a once-a-week occurrence?

3. Consider the product of your worship. Do you see measurable spiritual growth that can be attributed at least in part to the quality of your worship?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Luke 1:57-80
He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them. - Psalm 106:10
TODAY IN THE WORD
Apple, Moon Unit, and Suri don't appear on too many “Most Popular Baby Name” lists, but because of the celebrity parents of those children, the choice of names had a lot of people talking.

John the Baptist's parents weren't exactly celebrities, but the dramatic events surrounding the selection of John's name drew everyone's attention to this special child. The unusual choice of a name that was foreign to their family traditions was confirmed by the miraculous healing of Zechariah's temporary state of muteness, but the truly remarkable content of this passage comes from Zechariah's hymn of praise.

Once again the Holy Spirit came upon a person in order to deliver a divine message of confirmation, this time through the faithful, obedient lips of Zechariah. His song is a catalog of blessings from God: redemption, salvation, fulfilled prophecy, protection, fearlessness, holiness, righteousness, forgiveness, mercy, and peace are all promised to the Lord's people by a Savior whose coming would be announced by this eight-day-old child. John's assignment was to prepare the hearts of the people for the coming Messiah, and he was doing so before he could even speak!

Luke gives us an important bit of evidence that further validates John's identity as God's chosen messenger. The response of the people who heard about him indicates that they were indeed expecting something special from John because God's influence on him was obvious. When John began his ministry many years later, it would come as no surprise to the people of Israel. Step by step, God deliberately prepared His people for the coming message of hope.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Zechariah's song (vv. 68-79) is a valuable passage to memorize, and the last four verses are particularly motivating for us and our mission of evangelism. Equipped with the Word of God, we have the opportunity to prepare the way for the Lord into the hearts of those who don't yet know Him. We can freely give people the knowledge that salvation is available through the forgiveness of their sins. What a gift!

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Exodus 20:1-6
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Most of us have heard the old adage that ""close doesn't count."" But when it comes to a matter as important as national defense, ""close doesn't count"" takes on new meaning. According to officials at the Pentagon, plans for a national missile defense system are years--and billions of dollars--behind schedule. And the system now being tested has yet to prove reliable. Speaking after a major failure of the system last January, a Pentagon spokesperson stated the obvious: absolute accuracy is the only acceptable standard in a missile defense system.

The same is true in our worship. There is only one acceptable standard: our great God commands us to worship Him and Him alone. He is infinitely worthy of our exclusive worship--nothing else even comes close. The first two of the Ten Commandments serve as a guidance system that compels us to focus our hearts and minds on the true God and His expectations of us in worship (vv. 3-6).

This month we have an immense topic to consider. Worship is one of the greatest privileges God gives us. But it's even more than a privilege. It is our joyful duty.

God commands His people to worship Him exclusively. No other gods can do what He can do, nor can they even compare with His majesty. We will explore many aspects of worship over the next thirty days as we pursue becoming the worshipers God wants us to be.

God's original command to Israel was tied to His greatest demonstration of power and glory: the deliverance of His chosen people from slavery in Egypt. Throughout the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) God referred Israel back to that deliverance as a reminder that He deserved their complete loyalty and worship. Worshiping any other entity was a sin of the worst kind.

Given all of this, it seems unthinkable that the Israelites would build a golden calf and worship it even while Moses was receiving God's Commandments on Mount Sinai. But that happened, and the people declared: ""These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt"" (Exod. 32:4).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Worship is one of those subjects everybody has an opinion about.

But our purpose is not to try to decide which particular worship style is ""right."" Instead, we hope to give you a renewed appreciation for the importance, the cost, the focus, and the necessity of worship. We also want to help you remove hindrances to worship and prepare your heart for worship both as acts of devotion and as a way of life.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Psalm 29:1-11
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TODAY IN THE WORD
When famed naturalist John Muir visited California's Yosemite Valley in the 1860s, his reports of the valley's beauty aroused great interest. Congress established the Yosemite National Park in 1890, but that wasn't the end of Muir's efforts to conserve nature's beauty. In 1903 Muir took Theodore Roosevelt camping in Yosemite, giving the president a firsthand look at the park's beauty. Roosevelt became a passionate advocate for nature conservation.

The psalmist David has done much the same thing for God's people using some of the most powerful word pictures in all of the Psalter. Psalm 29 takes the reader on a firsthand ""tour"" of God's majesty, couched in the imagery of a great storm.

This psalm is important to the topic of worship because we must grasp the reality of God's greatness and majesty before we can see ourselves as we really are and worship God as He really is.

There's another reason we are studying Psalm 29 today. The opening two verses give us something very close to a definition of biblical worship. In essence, worship is giving to the Lord what is already His by virtue of His Person: glory and honor. Biblical worship focuses on God's infinite holiness.

Verse 1 reminds us that the worship of God is not limited to earth, a truth we will study more in depth later. God's ""mighty ones"" (v. 1) are most likely His angels, who are constantly engaged in worshiping Him. The glimpses the Bible gives us into heaven also reveal something of the splendor in which our holy God reigns.

Verses 3-9 of this psalm are a tribute to God's greatness, expressed seven times in His ""voice"" that speaks through a great storm. The storm begins over the ""mighty waters,"" the Mediterranean Sea, and sweeps across the land from Lebanon in the north to the desert of Kadesh in the south.


TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The Lord's Day is preeminently a day of rest and worship, a time set aside to leave behind earthly cares and focus our attention on God.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Matthew 4:1-11
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Somewhere in the history of organized sports, a coaching staff tried out a new theory. These coaches reasoned that taking their teams away the night before a big game and putting the athletes up in a hotel gave them a competitive advantage. They felt that this cloistering would remove the athletes from the distractions of everyday life and allow the team to focus more thoroughly on the game ahead. For decades, this has been a common practice among both college and professional teams.

Jesus knew the value of concentrating on the task at hand, and He prepared for His contest with Satan as no person has ever prepared before or since. Forty days alone in the desert not only removed Jesus from every human contact that would demand His attention; by fasting, Jesus even said ""no"" to normal human needs in order to prepare Himself for the devil's looming temptations.

The temptation of our Lord allows us a glimpse at a level of spiritual warfare we would otherwise know nothing about. The Bible says that Jesus was tempted in the same ways we are tempted (Heb. 4:15), but we will never experience the intensity of the trial Jesus faced.

For example, we are often tempted to sell out in our worship, but Satan has never offered us all the kingdoms of the world in return for our homage (Matt. 4:8-9). Jesus' final temptation was another attempt by Satan to gain what he has always wanted: to be worshiped as God (Isa. 14:12-15).

Today's text reveals a fact you have probably experienced if you have been a believer for very long. When you decided to worship God, you became embroiled in the struggle of the ages: the cosmic contest between God and Satan for the hearts and minds of mankind.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Are you being tempted to worship power, position, pleasure, possessions, or anything at all other than God?

Congratulations, you are normal! In fact, if you never feel tempted, you may want to check your spiritual pulse. The isse for believers is not whether we will be tempted, but how we will handle the temptations that are sure to come. Before dealing with the devil, Jesus spent forty days and nights worshiping the Father through fasting, prayer, and solitude.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Psalm 139:7-12, 23-24
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TODAY IN THE WORD
For those of us who do not keep up on all the developments in computer technology, the concept is still a bit mind-boggling. For example, cars are now available that have onboard computers to utilize satellites for directions. These computers can not only pinpoint the vehicle's current location, but can also give directions to any destination.

For computer professionals, this is probably old stuff. But it's still amazing to think that a satellite system can verify our location with such accuracy. Imagine how infinitely the God of the universe knows us! We must take this truth into account as we prepare to worship Him.

David was enthralled by the greatness of the thought that God knew and cared for him intimately. The psalmist was ""fearfully and wonderfully made"" by God (Ps. 139:14), with painstaking attention to detail.

Psalm 139 begins with the affirmation that God already knows us to an infinite degree. In comparison to our majestic God, we are merely specks in the universe. The fact that He would take thought of us is truly staggering (see Ps. 8:4).

That God is all-seeing and all-knowing concerning us has tremendous implications for our worship. We cannot escape His presence, whether we go to the depths of the sea or hide beneath the deepest darkness. Therefore, rather than trying to run from God and conceal our thoughts from Him, we need to believe and embrace the wonder of His ever-present care for us (Ps. 139:17-18).

Worship that does not include wonder--the awe inspired by God's majesty and holiness--is less than biblical worship. As we come into God's presence to worship Him, we need to cultivate the sense of the godly awe that inspired and humbled David.

But there is more to this matter of preparing to ""worship God acceptably with reverence and awe"" (Heb. 12:28). David's closing prayer in today's passage is an invitation for God to search and test his heart, revealing his deepest thoughts and motives (Ps. 139:23-24).

This searching was not for God's benefit, of course. It was so that David could come clean before God and get rid of any ""offensive way"" that might stifle God's work in his life.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
When we open our lives to the God who knows us perfectly, we are bound to learn valuable insights about Him--and about ourselves.

Have you ever had an insight from Scripture or a prompting from the Holy Spirit that you didn't write down and then eventually forgot? Then you'll appreciate the value of keeping your pen and paper close by as you study with Today in the Word.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Mark 9:1-7
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TODAY IN THE WORD
With all of the attention generated this year by the appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp, it is not surprising that the comet was still big news long after it appeared. This summer several people accused NASA of either failing to use its Hubble space telescope to photograph the comet or of refusing to publish their photos of it for fear of what the photos revealed. The space agency denied both charges, saying that the Hubble had been used since 1995 to observe Hale-Bopp and that the images had been made widely available.

In effect, NASA was saying that the public did not need to look further for some kind of hidden information about the celebrated comet. People already had before them everything they needed to know about Hale-Bopp.

On the Mount of Transfiguration, God the Father made a similar declaration concerning His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. The wisest thing that Peter, James, and John could do was listen to Jesus, for He alone had the words of eternal life (John 6:68). That's the wisest thing we as believers can do, too.

Yesterday and today we have been talking about preparing ourselves for worship. A readiness to hear and heed the Word of Christ is basic to any biblical worship.

Peter and the other apostles heard Jesus speak in person, but we have a distinct advantage today. As Peter himself said, we have ""the word of the prophets made more certain"" (2 Pet. 1:19). Because the Bible is the completed revelation of God to His people, we can obey God's command in Mark 9:7 in a way that even Jesus' contemporaries could not.

To say that the Scriptures are a central element of worship is to state the obvious. We are not called to worship the Bible, but Christ Himself. However, it is the Word of God that reveals Jesus to us in all of His fullness.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Each day when you sit down to open God's Word, you are performing an act of worship.

Because the Word is living and active (Heb. 4:12), something should happen in our hearts each time we read and study the Scriptures. Some believers tend to neglect their Bibles and, as a result, experience a void in their lives. But we can also make the opposite mistake--reading the Word mechanically to satisfy a schedule or to get our ""verse a day to keep the devil away.""

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Psalm 42:1-11
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TODAY IN THE WORD
The longest trial in British history concluded earlier this year, with the food giant McDonald's winning its libel suit against two environmentalists. The pair had distributed a leaflet accusing the chain of selling unhealthy food and exploiting workers.

McDonald's denied the charges and sued for libel, triggering a seven-year case that produced a book, a TV drama, and more than 19ꯠ pages of testimony on the Internet. But perhaps the most amazing aspect of the episode was the intensity with which McDonald's pursued the case. The chain spent more than $16 million, and won a libel award of just $98ꯠ.

Most of us would agree that these numbers show Mc-Donald's intensity in proving its innocence. If only we as believers were as intense in pursuing our relationships with God!

The writer of Psalm 42 knew this kind of longing. His heart beat for nothing more than the pursuit of worshiping God and being in His presence. By using the analogy of intense thirst, the psalmist puts things in perspective right at the start (vv. 1-2).

We're not sure of the circumstances behind this psalm, which is a couplet with Psalm 43. Perhaps the writer was somehow exiled and cut off from the sanctuary in Jerusalem, as verse 6 may suggest. Whatever his situation, he was suffering under the taunts of his enemies and the sweet but painful memories of past days spent in the worship of God (vv. 3-4).

Even though the psalmist's soul was in anguish, he still found great comfort in the knowledge of God's love for him (v. . It was during his nighttime ""worship services"" that the writer was given a song for his heart and a prayer for his lips.

These experiences gave this Old Testament believer hope and peace, even though he still had some hard questions to ask of God (v. 9). The psalmist's assurance of God's love and presence through his worship led to a confident assertion, repeated in verses 5 and 11. He would yet see the day when God would deliver him from his distress, and he would have new reason to praise Him.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Today's illustration suggests a question that all believers need to answer.

The question is this: How intensely do you long to know and worship God? Does the way you spend your time, abilities, energy, and money reveal a longing for God that might not make much sense from a material point of view?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Chronicles 16:1-12, 23-29
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Qin Shi Huang was China's first emperor, the first leader to defeat China's warring states and unify the nation in 221 B.C. But Huang left behind more than a dynasty and a unified country. To signify his rule, He had artisans create an enormous army of life-sized warriors and horses in terra cotta, more than 8ꯠ of which have been unearthed in a series of extensive excavations since 1974.

It's mind-boggling to think of the effort human rulers will exert in an attempt to immortalize themselves. But the only immortal Ruler in the universe, ""the only God"" (1 Tim. 1:17), does not want His people to build clay soldiers, pyramids, or other monuments in honor of Him. Instead, He desires our worship.

David--one of earth's greatest kings--understood this truth better than most people. And he certainly knew how to put together a worship service that brought to the Lord ""the glory due his name"" (1 Chron. 16:29).

This beautiful psalm of praise was the centerpiece of a wonderful service celebrating David's return of the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem (see 15:1). The king put up a tent to house the ark, which was not a monument but a visible symbol of God's presence among His people.

As you read these verses you'll see that this worship service had it all. There were offerings, instrumental and choral music, prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. Although for our purposes we have omitted the verses that deal specifically with Israel's history, it's important to note how often this psalm calls on God's people to remember His ""wonderful acts"" (1 Chron. 16:9) and ""the wonders he has done"" (v. 12).

Add to this the poem's many ascriptions of glory, majesty, and honor to the Lord, and we come away with valuable lessons about the content of worship. Using phrases repeated from Psalm 29:1-2 (see Nov-ember 2), David captured the heart of worship in verses 28-29.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Today's text also notes that offerings were part of the worship that David and the Israelites gave to the Lord (vv. 1-2).

We don't bring animals to a tabernacle or temple, but we are still commanded to worship God with our gifts. Paul called the gifts of the Philippians a ""fragrant offering"" to God (Phil. 4:18). Our gifts of worship are not limited to financial gifts (see Heb. 13:15), but the tithes and offerings we give to God are a measure of our love and devotion to Him.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Matthew 15:1-9
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Inge Kraus doesn't know who she really is; she only knows that people call her by that name. She was just four years old in April, 1945, when Russian troops attacked Konigsberg, the capital of what was then East Prussia. Inge remembers a strong man lifting her onto a wagon filled with people as Soviet artillery rained down upon the city she knew as home. She survived but was separated from her family and placed in an orphanage in Germany. Inge recently attended a gathering of war exiles from her city, tearfully hoping that someone might recognize her--but to no avail.

Most of us would agree that losing touch with family and losing one's identity is tragic. But as the story of Inge Kraus illustrates, life does go on even after you have forgotten who you are and whose you are.

The same is true when it comes to worship. It's possible to carry on with all the ceremonies and symbols of worship, even after the true meaning of the outward rituals has been forgotten or ignored. The people in today's story are a picture of this lesson.

The Pharisees and legal experts who approached Jesus that day were definitely concerned about the outward trappings of worshiping God. They had burdened down the Law of Moses with so many manmade traditions that breaking one didn't cause a lot of concern.

Like tombs painted with a fresh coat of whitewash, Israel's religious leaders were for the most part men whose hearts were far from God. Even though they led the nation in worship, their efforts were in vain from God's standpoint--their words and acts of devotion were merely skin-deep.

It's not surprising, then, that these men asked the wrong question. Jesus answered with a classic example of the way these leaders betrayed the hypocrisy of their hearts (v. 3). A man could declare a sum of money as a gift to God, relieving him of his responsibility toward his parents in the eyes of the current tradition. His vow could then be nullified in a number of ways (vv. 5-6).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
How can we help ensure that our worship does not deteriorate into an outward formality?

One way is to remember that we come to worship not just to keep an appointment, but to meet a Person. Keeping our eyes and hearts fixed on Jesus and making Him the focus of our worship will help keep us from being distracted by the people and things around us.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Psalm 95:1-7
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TODAY IN THE WORD
If you have ever been awed by the sight of a giant redwood tree, you may appreciate what it took for loggers to fell one of those trees in the days before power equipment. Lumbermen would build a working platform around the tree, about twenty feet off the ground. Then they spent up to a week sawing a massive undercut to direct the tree's fall. Transporting it to the sawmill was no small task, either. Even one half of an old-growth redwood was a trainload of wood.

As the poet Joyce Kilmer once said, only God could make a tree like the giant redwood. The Old Testament psalmists loved to point to the majesty and beauty of nature to extol the only God great enough to create such wonders. Psalm 95 is such a psalm.

The psalmist's call to worship is exuberant, and the reasons he gives justify such praise. Nature provides one of the great metaphors for God, who is the ""Rock of our salvation"" (v. 1). Just as a giant redwood suggests soaring majesty, a rock typifies the strength and stability of our great Savior.

Verse 3 also emphasizes another familiar refrain of biblical worship: the reminder that God alone deserves the place of deity. One reason the nations around Israel fashioned false gods was in an attempt to control the forces of nature. But the plagues of Egypt demonstrated once for all the impotence of idols and the sovereign rule of Israel's God.

This psalm leaves no doubt about God's ownership of the earth. It is His because He created it, and it is His because He alone sustains it. The earth is in His hands, and the mountains and the sea belong to Him.

But the writer does not leave things on the cosmic level. Since God is the Creator of everything we see, it follows that He is our Maker as well (v. 6). Therefore, He has a dual claim on our lives, for He is our Creator and our Savior.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Reading Psalm 95 together as a family would be a great preparation for your worship today.

If you have not gone to church, you might plan to read these verses with your family before you go. Here's one idea worth trying: have a family member read the psalm aloud in the car on the way to church. Then take a few minutes to discuss the truths it teaches. You'll be amazed at the difference those few minutes will make in your attitude toward worship.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Job 1:20-22; 2:7-10
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TODAY IN THE WORD
According to a spokesperson for one veterans' service organization, observances such as tomorrow's Veterans Day evoke more than memories for military veterans. These holidays also spur many veterans to seek the medals due them for their service. This fact is prompting more veterans to file claims for their unclaimed awards.

It's understandable why a veteran who paid the price in war would want to receive a hard-earned award. War is costly; it demands everything a person has. But honor awaits those who are ready to pay the costs of such service.

True worship of God is costly too. It demands everything the worshiper has. Just ask the patriarch Job. He lost everything but his life, yet he refused to let go of his devotion to the Lord. And God honored Job in an even greater way than He humbled him (Job 42:12).

Let's admit it. For most of us, worshiping God has become a pretty comfortable experience. Our churches are well appointed, cool in summer and warm in winter. Everyone is dressed up and behaving, and the order of worship is laid out for us in the bulletin.

Does that make these things wrong? Of course not. But we need to remember that the real test of our worship is not how well we sing or how closely we listen on Sunday morning. The test is how we react when the world hits on Monday morning and begins to deprive our lives of the peace, security, and joy God gives to His own.

It's often when you decide to worship God and serve Him faithfully at all costs that Satan decides to put your commitment to the test. Some aspects of Job's experience we will never fully understand this side of heaven, but Scripture tells us that God initiated the conversation concerning Job (Job 1:.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
One reason worship is so costly is that it is so valuable to God. He is seeking people who know how to worship (John 4:23).

Have you experienced the cost of worship? If you have, you know the sweetness of being able to say, ""May the name of the Lord be praised"" (Job 1:21)--even when circumstances don't seem to call for praise.