QT: Celebratory Worship: On the way there?

QT: Celebratory Worship: On the way there?

Celebratory Worship: On the way there?
https://www.esv.org/Ezra8:31–36
Week 22: 26/05/2023. Fri

Worship has content, not merely moods and feelings. Worship needs detailed preparation in patience. However, worship needs to proceed even when not everything is totally known or certain.

Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way. We came to Jerusalem, and there we remained three days. Ezra 8:31–32 (ESV).

The "twelfth day" was most likely an attempt to remind returnees of the nation-wide importance of what's going on. The number 12 in their psyche was virtually all the time pointing to the tribes of Israel, the sons of Jacob.

After all the required people and appointments holders were settled, Ezra and company set off. The journey was precarious, fraught with unknowns. But the people of God then still chose to move forward, even in the absence of military protection in case of robbery.

In the end, they arrived and offered "a sin offering" and "a burnt offering to the LORD" (8:35). Today, we offer sacrifices of praise, sincere worship, good deeds and good works to the LORD to thank Him for the provision of Atonement through Jesus Christ, a once and for all offering for mankind's sin.

When even the "king's satraps" and "governors of the province Beyond the River" aided God's people and His house, God's name was amply glorified in the end. Would your celebratory worship today also bring you to that destination?