There’s a song called The Earth is Yours by Gungor and it’s had me thinking quite a bit lately of a verse I’ve always heard used as motivation for worshiping God. It’s in Luke 19, verse 40 and says, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Most have probably heard the story. Jesus is riding into town on the colt of a donkey. People are throwing their cloaks and palm branches down before Him. The disciples break into song. And the religious leaders still don’t get it. The creator of the universe is riding into their town, and they miss it completely. They say, “Jesus, rebuke your followers!” Verse 40 is His response to them. If His disciples hadn’t praised Him, creation would.
It was not a question of when and if creation would praise Him though. As the above song so aptly mentions, when the trees twist in the wind, and when the ocean is writhing in a storm, it shows the awesome power of God. The whole of creation is shouting His praises as loudly as they can. So the question isn’t when or if creation will praise Him. It’s a question of when His followers will. When will we put down our pettiness and do as John 4:23 bids us? When will we worship Him in spirit and in truth? When will we remember that worship isn’t and can’t be about us? It isn’t about our likes or dislikes. It isn’t about our preference for contemporary or traditional music. It isn’t about what gives us goosebumps. It isn’t about us. All those things can help us get in the spirit of worship, but they have little to do with our heart. The heart is our own choice. Will we do our best to out-praise the mountains, oceans and trees? Will we praise Him from our heart? We must choose whether we are going to just sing words on a screen, or whether we are going to forget about everything that bogs us down, and worship our creator with everything we are. That’s what it means to worship Him in truth.