(Psalm 134:1-3))(HCSB) Now praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who stand in the Lord's house at night! Lift up your hands in the holy place, and praise the Lord! May the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.
You know, each Sunday churches all over the country have evening worship services. And I'm sure that the pastors of most of those churches are often disappointed. "Why?", you ask? Because these services usually suffer from poor attendance. It's seems that no matter what they try, church leaders all over struggle with this, because many of the people just never or rarely come to an evening service. I've seen some other churches in the area use bright, flashing marquis signs, advertising their evening services, as if to say, "Hey, look! We are indeed having church tonight!" But I know that the turnout is still not what it should be. In fact, many churches have switched to a schedule of no evening services or have meetings in home "cell" groups instead. Now, here at RABC, we have Sunday night services, although I often wonder if many of our church members realize it. (You sure don't see much evidence of it on any given Sun. night!)
Now you may say, "Wow, he sure is harping about this subject!" And maybe I am, but maybe somebody needs to, because I seem to remember a passage of scripture that says something like, "we shouldn't forsake assembling together, but encourage each other, especially as the day of Jesus' return draws closer." (Heb. 10: 25)(joey's paraphrase) And each day, we draw one day closer to the day that Jesus is coming back for His church!
There are several passages in the Psalms that mention worshiping or praying or meditating in study of God's Word at night.
We see in Psalm 92, a picture of worshiping day and night:
It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp. (Ps. 92:1-3)(NIV)In Psalm 77, we have a passage that shows the psalmist crying out to God in distress, lifting hands in worship at night:
I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted. (Ps. 77:1-2)(NIV)In Psalm 1, we see that we will be happy when we turn away from the path of sin and the advice of the wicked and instead:
Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. (Ps. 1:2)(HCSB)
Now, I admit that you can cry out to God in worship and meditate on His Word when you're alone at home (or somewhere esle)as well as when you're at church; but these passages to me show an underlying desire, an unquenchable longing for God that should easily prompt us to make every effort to worship each chance we get in a corporate worship service with our church family where we can encourage and be encouraged by fellow believers.
Here's another verse from Isaiah that expresses this type of longing for God, a desire to seek Him in the evening:
Yes, Lord, we wait for You in the paths of Your judgments. Our desire is for Your name and renown. I long for You in the night; yes, my spirit within me diligently seeks You, for when Your judgments are in the land, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. (Isa. 26:8-9)(HCSB)
We see other passages in the Old Testament exhorting us to study God's Word day and night. And again, I believe that we should do it privately--some one on one time in personal worship, prayer and study with the Lord--but also we should study and worship together. In Joshua chapter 1 we read:
This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. (Joshua 1:8)(NASB)
So you see that we are to be in worship and in study of God's Word at night as well as in the day time hours. And I don't know about you, but ever since God saved me from an eternity without Him in a terribly horrible place called hell...since He forgave me and washed away my sins with the blood of His only Son Who died in my place on the cross of Calvary... since He gave me an assurance of my salvation and eternal life that only comes through Him, I just don't want to miss a single opportunity to praise His name and express my love and thanks to Him for Who He is and for what He's done in my life! How about you? When we have this inner desire to seek Him and worship Him and study His Word in the evening as well as in the morning, we can be sure that the "Maker of Heaven and Earth" will send down His blessings on us! (Ps. 134:3)See you next Sun. Night!
You know, each Sunday churches all over the country have evening worship services. And I'm sure that the pastors of most of those churches are often disappointed. "Why?", you ask? Because these services usually suffer from poor attendance. It's seems that no matter what they try, church leaders all over struggle with this, because many of the people just never or rarely come to an evening service. I've seen some other churches in the area use bright, flashing marquis signs, advertising their evening services, as if to say, "Hey, look! We are indeed having church tonight!" But I know that the turnout is still not what it should be. In fact, many churches have switched to a schedule of no evening services or have meetings in home "cell" groups instead. Now, here at RABC, we have Sunday night services, although I often wonder if many of our church members realize it. (You sure don't see much evidence of it on any given Sun. night!)
Now you may say, "Wow, he sure is harping about this subject!" And maybe I am, but maybe somebody needs to, because I seem to remember a passage of scripture that says something like, "we shouldn't forsake assembling together, but encourage each other, especially as the day of Jesus' return draws closer." (Heb. 10: 25)(joey's paraphrase) And each day, we draw one day closer to the day that Jesus is coming back for His church!
There are several passages in the Psalms that mention worshiping or praying or meditating in study of God's Word at night.
We see in Psalm 92, a picture of worshiping day and night:
It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp. (Ps. 92:1-3)(NIV)In Psalm 77, we have a passage that shows the psalmist crying out to God in distress, lifting hands in worship at night:
I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted. (Ps. 77:1-2)(NIV)In Psalm 1, we see that we will be happy when we turn away from the path of sin and the advice of the wicked and instead:
Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. (Ps. 1:2)(HCSB)
Now, I admit that you can cry out to God in worship and meditate on His Word when you're alone at home (or somewhere esle)as well as when you're at church; but these passages to me show an underlying desire, an unquenchable longing for God that should easily prompt us to make every effort to worship each chance we get in a corporate worship service with our church family where we can encourage and be encouraged by fellow believers.
Here's another verse from Isaiah that expresses this type of longing for God, a desire to seek Him in the evening:
Yes, Lord, we wait for You in the paths of Your judgments. Our desire is for Your name and renown. I long for You in the night; yes, my spirit within me diligently seeks You, for when Your judgments are in the land, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. (Isa. 26:8-9)(HCSB)
We see other passages in the Old Testament exhorting us to study God's Word day and night. And again, I believe that we should do it privately--some one on one time in personal worship, prayer and study with the Lord--but also we should study and worship together. In Joshua chapter 1 we read:
This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. (Joshua 1:8)(NASB)
So you see that we are to be in worship and in study of God's Word at night as well as in the day time hours. And I don't know about you, but ever since God saved me from an eternity without Him in a terribly horrible place called hell...since He forgave me and washed away my sins with the blood of His only Son Who died in my place on the cross of Calvary... since He gave me an assurance of my salvation and eternal life that only comes through Him, I just don't want to miss a single opportunity to praise His name and express my love and thanks to Him for Who He is and for what He's done in my life! How about you? When we have this inner desire to seek Him and worship Him and study His Word in the evening as well as in the morning, we can be sure that the "Maker of Heaven and Earth" will send down His blessings on us! (Ps. 134:3)See you next Sun. Night!
Joey C.