The Heart of Worship

On a Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Luke 13:10-17

Jesus spoke to the woman, crippled by a spirit of infirmity, bent over (doubled over) for 18 years, and couldn’t straighten up. She’d been that way and couldn’t help herself. I look at this passage, and I look inwards into my life.

There are habits and shortcomings that I want gone. I see it as a crippling spirit. I look at this passage, and I understand this is what sin does- it cripples one. It bends one over.

Jesus not only spoke to this woman. But He put His hands on her. She had no choice but to be straightened. For the first time, she could see the sky, see human faces, even the Jewish rabbi teachers, and raise her arms in praise to God. She’d been in the midst of all of that activity for 18 years and was at the same time denied that.

She had been a fervent synagogue attendee but in that state with no changes to her situation. Until Jesus intervened. He likened her to a donkey tied and bound.

In these last days, the enemy wants the children of God bound. Albeit unconsciously.
Yes, we look good in church all week, clapping, shouting, jumping, and all that. But let’s bring the mirror closer and check if we are ‘bent over’ in any way ‘hidden in plain sight’.

Let’s bring it forward to our Lord in humility and “when the music fades and all is stripped away, lets simply come, longing just to bring something that’s of worth. Let’s bring Him more than a song, for a song in itself is not what He has required. He searches more deeper within, to the way things appear. He’s looking into our hearts. Let’s come back to the ‘heart of worship’ where it’s all about Him.” –Matt Redman “Heart of Worship”

By Chinwe Aggrey, DOTK Community Writer