“Then they who feared the LORD spoke to one another and the LORD heard and listened to them. He prepared a scroll of remembrance before him of those who fear the LORD and who honor his Name.”

Malachi 3:16

We speak about God differently when we remember he “hears and listens” to us. When we worship him, we worship differently when we remember we are worshiping God as God, not merely coming to God for him to meet our needs, fix our problems, congratulate our goodness, or forgive our failures.

God “hears and listens” and we are changed by him when we worship him. He remembers us who fear him. He never forgets us who revere and glorify his name.

We love to think that God is specially in the building where we are worshiping. He is not. We love to think that our gifts and the sacrifice of time in that hour or two is all he requires of us. That is not what God requires of us. We love the security of letting others take charge of our worship, we believe they are better at it than we are. They are not better at worship; they cannot worship FOR us. We hope the religious officials are speaking for God. They may not be; what they say always needs to be tested by Scripture. 

Worship is coming with people who know and love God, giving him praise, hearing his Word, and recounting what he has done: Praising him, hearing him, remembering  him. It is not entertainment. It is not a school. It is not a religious club. 

Sin keeps the preacher proud (my greatest struggle) and the people at a distance from God. Sin makes the building the sanctuary instead of the sanctuary being wherever God is. Sin makes our moments of worship the exception to our week, not the consummate expression of what we’d been doing every minute, every hour of every day, no matter where we were or what we were doing.

God “hears and listens.” The worshiper delights in God alone. The religious fear (dread) and forget God, or they try to own him. The one who fears the LORD reveres, honors, and praises God and him alone. Nothing else is admitted to his praises. Nothing else is tolerated. It is necessary in this day to state: Only the worship of God is permitted in the worship of God.

God remembers those “who fear the LORD and who honor his name.”