This Is How I Worship
The idea behind worship is celebrating things God has put in our lives. It allows us to thank him for being there through it all. Worship can be in song, in thanksgiving, in prayer, and even in simple conversation with a friend. Worship is everywhere and I wanted to share some ways of how I personally worship in my life and encourage you to step in and learn how to truly worship and praise.
I think we can all agree God is worth celebrating. The celebration of God comes from learning and growing not only in pure joy, but also in pure hardship. The idea of Worship to me is an eternal way to celebrate God. The root of my worship is to celebrate His grace, His presence, and His eternal glory. As God’s presence is eternal, the way of celebration is too. So, as you begin to read the seven Hebrew words of worship and praise I want you to remember as I do that His celebration is the root of our worship. Our worship and celebration is unconditional. These words changed how I look at worship and how I approach God. So, I want you to know as God loves unconditionally, we must celebrate Him unconditionally through His love.
The way God speaks to us is different from person to person. Each having an answer that would only make sense to them. I pulled out my dictionary from the third grade and, according to Webster’s Dictionary, copyrighted in 2002 says Worship is; “1 the service or rite showing reverence for a deity. 2 intense love or admiration” (Webster 733). Something ironic is above ‘worship’ is the word ‘worsen’. Just as in the Gospel, in the dictionary it goes from ‘worse’ to ‘worsen’ to ‘worship’. It’s like right when you think it is getting bad, God steps in. That is worship y’all! Therefore, our new and improved worship means to praise despite your flaws and your imperfections. Worship your praises and victories. From this, you can now see worship is not just something you do on a Sunday. It is a daily connection, a daily occurrence to be connected to God.
When Jesus lived alongside us, He was able to know us, help and celebrate us. It was a way for God to physically show that He wants to be in our presence. Worship is something that brings us to God. It brings God closer to us, as if He is standing beside us. It was the first thing I did to start my walk and now I cannot stop. Now, what if I told you there are seven words for the word worship? Seven definitions for different ways to worship God. Just as there are five definitions of love in Greek, there are seven Hebrew words for worship and praise alone. God speaks to people in different ways, mine is through worship.
My first connection to these words was through a tour entitled Holy Roar with Chris Tomlin and a BUNCH of other amazing worship singers. His pastor Darren Whitehead walked out in the middle of the concert and did a message on these seven Hebrew words. Crazy right? In a stadium in Greensboro, North Carolina I was forever changed. I look back at that time and think how my faith would not be the same now if it was not for that moment. In that time, which is almost a year and a half ago, I started my walk. Still full of questions, just curious to see how God was going to use me. I felt connected to those words but I was still confused on how they connected me to worship and therefore to God. I was so excited, I felt the desire to walk out and scream to tell everyone about them. I soon found out no one knew what they were. So, I pushed it down and then I started back again, a year and a half later. More mature in my walk, even more excited to share.
My first word was Hâlal; to boast or rave or celebrate (Tomlin 32). My favorite association with this is Psalm 150:6, “Praise Him with clashing cymbals!” Praise Him LOUD. Praise and boast about God. Yell in the parking lot for all of the Kingdom to hear. This brings me to the time a couple of weeks ago when I yelled in the parking lot, “I AM GOING TO BE THE MUSIC PRODUCER OF HILLSONG YOUNG AND FREE”. I wanted the entire world to hear me. I wanted God to hear me. I wanted God to know my dream and my desire to use my life to worship him.
Music has always been a point of connection. It really started when I was little and I got a plastic drum for Christmas. I would play it all the time until I busted a hole in the top. Music came to me in unexpected times. It has made me a better person and a better follower of Christ. It’s like all of my emotion, all of my feeling can go into the music I play or sing. It is something I never really thought about until I heard about Zamar; to celebrate or praise with music. To worship God on a musical instrument (Tomlin 44). This is mentioned forty one times in the Bible. One question Darren asked was, when was the last time you played your instrument for God alone? When I truthfully answered this question to myself I said, never. When I play or practice I feel bad for chipping or missing notes. I feel embarrassed. I almost hid away from God in those moments. So, I created a routine. When I enter where I am going to practice I say, “It is okay to mess up. I am human, imperfect and will not know how to do everything”. Though I mess up and make mistakes, it makes me better. My performances go out to God. I had to awkwardly accept an award for music once and I had to thank people. I was expressing gratitude but did not fully understand how to fully express it alone. I thanked friends, family and mentors but, I did not know to express my gratitude to God in that moment. Along with the people placed around me at that time I would say thank you God for letting me Zamar You, every single day without fail. So if you play an instrument or sing or simply just enjoy playing something because you love it. Thank God and allow yourself to truly Zamar Him every time because you will never understand how much of a gift it is until you do.
I have struggled with both depression and anxiety for years. On top of that I never tell people but I do struggle with an eating disorder. Saying those things out loud scares me. It makes it more real and all I want to do is ignore it, to turn up the volume and block out the voices. I never tell people that I go through this on a daily basis because I don’t want people to see me differently. It seems I always have answers for people but never for myself. It is way easier to act like I have it all together than it is to be real with where I am. This is why it is hard for me to know that God sees me as His and loved when I don’t feel worthy. There is a form of worship that sometimes I struggle to do. It is called Tehillâh; singing a new song, singing your song back (Tomlin 84). I think this can be really hard to understand. It can be scary to sing your struggles to God. Tehillâh to me is sharing with God what is going on like how you would catch up with a friend. This is hard for me because admitting hard things to God can be scary. Admitting what I have been going through for years is not easy because for most of it I have felt alone. I feel like I am in my pit as Joseph was but I don’t know how to crawl out. Singing my song back helps to lift that loneliness. Another thing that I do is called yâdâh; to reveal or worship with extended hands (Tomlin 18). This to me is physically surrendering everything to God. It is like everything I feel is being conversed with God without having to say any words. I used to think it was so awkward to have your hands up. If you feel this way in worship then I encourage you to embrace it because it helps me engage in worship because it changes my posture. If you resonate with not feeling worthy or free to engage in worship, simply try lifting your hands up. This does not require any words but simply lifting your hands is a step to feeling closer to God.
Towdah; A thanksgiving of things not yet received (Tomlin 56) .
Bârak; Coming in the presence of the King, to physically kneel before the blessing and adoration of recognizing one’s position in relation to Him (Tomlin 70).
Shâbach; To address in a loud tone. To shout, to commend, glory and triumph (Tomlin 96).
There are three words left which I want to leave with you. I am still learning how to fully worship upon these three myself. The one I do that might look different for most is towdah. Everyday before I get out of bed I pray and thank God for relationships and blessings that I have yet received. I actually wrote out a prayer before the start of my internship this semester. I was thanking God for the friendships I was going to encounter. And He brought even more than asked. He gave me a group of people who I see Jesus in every single day. They show me the light even when I can’t see it. With that, I even thank Him for my struggles which might sound odd. Thanking Him for struggles is showing that yet I am not perfect I still have faith in His perfect will and plan. At the end of the day I do the same thing. Through this I am starting to understand that though God is constant, we must be constant too. A relationship is two ways not just one way so reach out to Him. Tell Him how thankful you are and what you are struggling with. He wants to listen and He is not going anywhere.
Shâbach and Bârak I am still working on. It is something that I want to start doing more. They are the ones where I feel the most discomfort engaging with. One of my favorite Youtube channel’s is called Yes Theory. They are a group of guys who live by the motto of seeking discomfort and connecting with people no matter who they are, they just have to say yes. This can be saying yes to going sky diving with strangers or yes to going to a different country. These guys are definitely people I look up to. We say a lot of no in our lives so what does it look like to say yes?. So in light of Yes Theory, I am saying yes to starting my journey of learning to worship in these new ways. I think you should do the same.
What a God we get to worship! I want to ask again, why worship God? We worship because God dwells in our presence so let's also dwell in His. In the song Defender by Steffany Gretzinger it says, “all I did was praise. All I did was worship. All I did was bow down ”. In the song Awake My Soul by Hillsong United it says, “when we hear worship, He hears praise”. The acts of worship are hidden in our very own worship music. We often miss it but the power of worship is sitting right in front of us. Worship is more powerful than we ever thought possible. Worship is us talking to God and posturing ourselves to love and praise Him. Though worship is different from person to person God is something worth celebrating no matter how you do it. Jesus changed everything. This is why we do these things, this is why I worship. Now it is your turn, pick a Hebrew word and go all in. See where it takes you in your faith and ask yourself, how is this new worship going to fuel my faith?
Laura Waldeck
Works Cited
Darren Whitehead - The Seven Hebrew Words of Praise. (n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2020, from https://watch.liberty.edu/media/1_j9us60mr
The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments translated out of the original tongues and with the former translations diligently compared & revised. (1986). New York: American Bible Society.
Tomlin, C., & Whitehead, D. (2017). Holy roar: 7 words that will change the way your worship. Nashville, Tennessee.: Bowyer & Bow.
Webster's new dictionary & thesaurus. (1995). Canada: DS-MAX Canada.
