The Taste of Sabbath: How to Delight in God's Rest

by Stuart Bryan

The biblical vision of worship, therefore, is a far cry from the sickeningly sweet drivel that is commonly called worship in the modern church. One of the reasons God’s enemies have been triumphing of late is because our worship has been so namby-pamby and impotent. We have defined worship as merely “expressing emotion.” But this is not the only, nor indeed the primary, definition of worship used in Scripture. Worship is an expression of love and affection (cf. Ps. 18:1ff), but it is much more. In particular, worship is warfare. And so at least some of our music should be martial in its tone. But how often do modern choruses make you want to march into battle? How often do they even call the Lord to go to battle? We should be willing, even as the Psalms are, to sing against God’s enemies and call upon Him to defend His Name. “Let God arise, Let His enemies be scattered; Let those also who hate Him flee before Him” (Ps. 68:1).