Let Us Adore Him
Another December has come around, and once again most of us will be singing familiar carols at Christmas time. One of my favorites is,
O come all ye faithful,
Joyful and triumphant.
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
O Come let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.
But, what exactly is adoration? This year, at a friend’s suggestion, I went online, pulled together thoughts and quotations from many sources and was drawn into deeper, fuller worship of Jesus as I wrote about adoring our Lord.
According to online dictionaries, adoration is deep love and respect; it is worship and veneration.
Adoring God is not a mental activity, adoration rises from our hearts, from our inmost beings. It is an expression of love, of reverence and of awe. We can adore God in silence or in soft words, like “I love You, Lord. Lord, You’re beautiful. You’re perfect. You’re wonderful.”
When I was growing up, the in thing was to be “cool,” cool and detached, but adoration is anything but cool.
The woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears adored Him. She was broken and humble, her walls were down, she offered her tears to Jesus in the vulnerability of love. She was not cool.
At times adoration is expressed in actions. In worship, we bow before the Lord.
We worship and adore You,
we bow in love, before you,
Songs of praises singing,
Hallelujahs ringing
Or we might kneel before Him as we sing,
Come let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the Lord, Our God, our Maker,
for He is our God,
(by Steffany Gretzinger)
At times we can express our reverence for the Lord by lifting our hands in adoration, as in the song,
Holy Hands, we lift up Holy Hands
For the Lord is here,
and where He is is Holy
We are made to adore the Lord. As C. S. Lewis said,
I was not born to be free—I was born to adore and obey.
Richard Foster wrote,
Adoration is the spontaneous yearning of the heart to worship, honor, magnify and bless God. We ask nothing but to cherish him. We seek nothing but his exaltation. We focus on nothing but his goodness.
Evelyn Underhill said,
Adoration is caring for God above all else.”
When our total attention and affection is centered on the Lord and we are wrapped up in His love, all that is less than His goodness falls away. According to Ann Voskamp
The answer to deep anxiety is the deep adoration of God.
Pope John Paul II recognized that adoring God is a human need. He wrote,
It is pleasant to spend time with Him, to lie close to His breast like the Beloved Disciple and to feel the infinite love present in His heart…. how can we not feel a renewed need to spend time unspiritual converse, in silent adoration, in heartfelt love before Christ.
Martin Luther agreed with Pope John Paul and also pointed out the need for communal worship.
To gather with God’s people in united adoration to the Father is as necessary to the Christian life as prayer.
When we adore the Lord, we do our part in bringing God’s Kingdom to earth. Pope John Paul II knew this when he wrote,
Through adoration, the Christian mysteriously contributes to the radical transformation of the world and to the sowing of the Gospel. Anyone who prays to the Savior draws the whole world with him and raises it to God. Those who stand before the Lord are therefore fulfilling an eminent service. they are presenting to Christ all those who do not know him or are far from him: they keep watch in his presence on their behalf.
Adoring our Lord is not only a human need and an act of intercessory service for our loved ones and for the world, it is also a great privilege. Hosea Ballou points out that
The act of divine worship is the inestimable privilege of man, the only created being who bows in humility and adoration.
The Bible is full of prayers of adoration. We often read them as prayers of exaltation—which is another facet of worship, but today, can you ask the Holy Spirit to please help you to read the Scriptures below adoringly? Remembering that although adoring God is reasonable and rational, it is not a mental activity. Adoration rises from our hearts, from our inmost beings. It is an expression of love, of reverence and of awe. We can adore the Lord in our own words of love. We can adore the Lord in silence. Wordsworth once wrote in a poem that adoration is quiet and breathless. And we can adore Jesus as we read and soak in words of Scripture like these:
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Psalm 95:6–7a
Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
Exodus 15:11Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.” Nehemiah 9:5b-6
One thing I ask from the LORD, that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. Psalm 27:4
Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere Psalm 84:1
Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, Hebrews 12:28
Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. You are worthy of all of our adoration and love—for you created us— and all things, and by your will all was created and have their being.” Revelation 4:9-11
Oh Come Let us Adore Him . . . this Christmas and throughout the coming years.
P.S. I’ve an unusually persistent feeling right that someone who will read this might have trouble believing that God came to earth in human form in the infant Jesus whose birth we remember at Christmas. If that is you, a couple of my own doubts were put to rest while reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. You might find it of interest—and enjoyment.
