Deuteronomy 26:10-11 "And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God: (11) And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you."
We see the Lord giving instructions concerning worship as we begin this
chapter. These instructions were to be followed when they came into the
Promised Land. They were to bring tithes of the fruit of the land "which
thou, O LORD, hast given me."
We all probably can admit there have been times when we have left the meeting
time and still felt empty. We sometimes hear it said, and probably have
said it ourselves, "I just did not get anything out of that."
When I was first ordained, I would hear the older preachers respond in
this manner, "Well, did you bring a basket to put it in?"
Their thoughts were that if we do not bring our hearts prepared to hold
the blessings, we cannot expect to receive a filling. I would add just
one thought with that..
Yes, they were to bring a basket with them when they came to worship the Lord;
but, the basket was not to be empty when it was brought to the priest. The
basket was to be filled with the firstfruits of the crops of the land. They
were to bring the sheaves of wheat in a basket and give it to the priest. As
they presented the filled basket to the priest, they were to speak words of
thanksgiving and praise. They would profess as the basket was presented,
"I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country
which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us." Then, they
would rehearse the history of the Lord bringing them out of bondage and into this
wonderful land in which they were then living. In essence, they were
confessing it was not their own ability; rather the blessed grace of God that
brought them from bondage to freedom. They were praising and giving thanks for
the blessings of God.
How does this apply to us today? May I ask a personal question for you to
consider? What does it take for your heart and your spirit to be stirred
when you go to the Lord's House on Sundays? Have you ever left that
place, thinking to yourself, "I just didn't get anything out of it
today?" Could it be that when we do not receive the heartfelt
blessings from worship that we have actually taken an empty basket (our lives)
into the time of worship? Could it be that we went, expecting the preacher,
or the singers, or prayers, or someone else to literally take hold of us and
lift us up? It seems to me the key to true worship, and the blessings of
worship, come as we actually - WORSHIP. No matter our situation, there
are always multitudes of reasons for us to be thankful and to praise the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We should never go with an "empty basket";
rather, we should enter the House of God with our hearts and minds filled with
the manifold blessings that the Lord daily heaps upon us.
When we enter the Lord's House with those thoughts and present them unto our
Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, He will honor us with His presence. This
is the order of worship: Bring hearts filled with the blessings of what
the Lord has done as well as the needs for what we feel we want Him to do for
us. He will make Himself openly known to us in a glorious manner.