“The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him” ( Proverbs 15:8, ESV).

Every now and then, someone will leave church, and say, “I didn’t like that worship service,” or, “I got nothing out of worship today.”

What would you think if I told you that basically, our evaluation of worship is irrelevant? What if God “got nothing out of church” Sunday? What if someone came to church, sang the songs, listened to the sermon, participated in the Lord’s Supper … and God flatly rejected his worship?

Why would God do such a thing?

Does he not call us to worship?

The answer is, “Yes.” But we worship on his terms, not ours, according to his criteria of good worship, not ours.

In this verse from the Proverbs, it is the sacrificer, not the sacrifice, that is the problem. There are those who imagine that they can live any lifestyle they please, then come to church and mouth the sentiments, go through the motions, and God will accept them.

But the Lord demands more of us than a couple of hours on a Sunday morning. He demands more than our fine sentiments and showy Hollywood productions. He demands our hearts, our time, our very selves.

The old prophet Samuel put it succinctly: “To obey,” he declared, “is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22).

Worship is not a question of aligning God’s will to ours, but of aligning our will to God’s.

by Stan Mitchell @ www.forthright.net