Why would a Perfect God Require Worship?

Recently, while browsing various discussions on a religious question-and-answer forum, I came across some questions from atheists in regard to the worship of God. The questions varied in form and emphasis, but the bottom line was this: “If God really created everything and is all-powerful, why does He want us to worship Him? He can’t possibly need anything from us, so is this call for worship really just some sort of divine ego-trip?”

And while most of the questions I’ve referenced were really little more than thinly disguised rants against theism in general and Christianity in particular, the core question itself is entirely reasonable. Why, indeed, should an all-powerful God desire anything from the likes of little ‘ole mortal me, including worship?

For that matter, what do we mean when we speak of worshiping God? What are we really talking about?

The Definition of Worship

The word worship appears 112 times in 105 verses in the New King James Version. In the Old Testament, the word translated into English as worship is the Hebrew word shachah, which, according to Strong’s Concordance, means: “to bow down, prostrate oneself before a superior in homage.” In the New Testament, the word translated worship is the Greek word proskyneō. According to Strong’s, proskyneō means:

1. To kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence
2. Among the Orientals, esp. the Persians, to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence
3. In the NT by kneeling or prostration to do homage (to one) or make obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication

As we can see from the word usage in both the Old and New Testaments, to worship means to reverence or pay homage to one’s superior, including the idea of physically prostrating oneself, just as a man would bow before his king when responding to a summons or requesting some special favor.

But why would God wish us to do this? How does it benefit Him to see us prostrate ourselves before Him? Does it give Him pleasure to see us humbled just for the sake of it?

The Perspective for Worship

In order to understand the necessity of worship, we must first reflect upon two important aspects of God’s nature and character, as well as a central truth about the creation in general:

1. God is not a glorified man (Num 23:19). Although we are made in His image and often tend to view Him in human terms, He is altogether higher than us and different from us (Isa 55:9). His nature is perfect, uncorrupted. He cannot sin. He is absolutely holy (Lev 11:45). Whatever He commands, or whatever action He takes, He does so in perfect righteousness (Isaiah 45:21, Psalms 25:8, 45:6, and 89:14).

2. In the words of the old hymn, “This is my Father’s world.” All things that exist were created by Him and for Him (John 1:3, Col 1:16). As His creations, we belong to Him (Psalm 24:1, Romans 14:8). All good things come through Him (Matt 5:45, James 1:17), and He must ultimately judge all men according to the standard that is His own holy character (Romans 2:7, Jude 1:14-15, Rev 22:12).

The Purpose of Worship

So what do these facts teach us about worship?

First, as the Creator of all things, the One who gives us life, the One in whose image we are made, the only perfect being there is, God is deserving of our veneration. The glory for these things rightfully belongs to Him, and He has declared that He will not share that glory with anyone else (Isaiah 42:8).

Atheists often read a declaration like this and react to it as if God has a fragile ego that requires continual maintenance. They see him as a pompous tyrant, lounging about on the throne of the universe, commanding that men grovel before Him or else be consigned to hell; but this is because they make the mistake of seeing God as a glorified man. They attribute the tendencies of corrupted human nature to Him, including the desire to “lord it” over others for the sheer sake of doing so. But God is not a man; He does not suffer from our limited perspective or our fallen nature. He does not call for our veneration out of arrogant self-indulgence. On the contrary, by calling for our worship, He is defending that which is rightfully His; and He does this because to do otherwise would be to suppress the truth of who He is and what He has done. It would result in unjustly lowering Himself and elevating man.

Thus, the call to worship is a call to acknowledge God for who He is and what He has done.

To credit the sculpture of "David" to someone other than Michelangelo would be to rob the artist of the credit that is due him, just as it would be to rob Milton by attributing "Paradise Lost" to another author, or to credit the "Mona Lisa" to someone other than DaVinci. In the same way, to credit our moral sense to ourselves, or the universe to unintelligent matter-in-motion, or to exalt ourselves and our reason to the throne room of the temple of wisdom, is to rob the creator, author, and artist of all things of the credit that is due Him. It is, in a very real sense, to steal what is rightfully His. It's not that we're giving something to God by worshiping Him, it's that we’re acknowledging what is already rightfully His by the simple virtue of who He is. There's an enormous difference between giving something to someone and taking what they already have and what is theirs by right.

Secondly, God requires us to worship Him out of His love for us. This may sound somewhat counter-intuitive at first, but consider:

A loving parent cares for his children, in part, by helping them to see the world for what it is and to focus on those things that are truly important, thus providing them with the perspective required for them to succeed in life.

In the same way, by requiring that man's focus be on Him, God is endeavoring to provide us with an accurate view of the universe and our place in it, without which would we surely delude ourselves, spend our lives in futility, and ultimately pass into condemnation in the next life (Romans 1:18-32).

For if there truly is a God who created us, loves us, wants what is best for us, and must ultimately call us into judgment, how could He allow us to wander in delusion and futility? How could He not call us to focus on Himself? What could be better than knowing Him and acknowledging Him for who He is and what He has done? What are our life's pursuits, our petty squabbles over this and that, and our desire to possess things that we "can't take with us" and that will ultimately decay, in comparison to knowing the Highest and embracing what He has for us? If we do have souls that survive our bodies, if we will be judged, and if our continued lives in the next world are truly eternal, would it not be better for us to think of that coming world and to prepare for it as best we're able, rather than spending our time, thoughts and resources on things that are perishable?

How many people have spent their lives in pursuit of the pleasures of the moment: money, fame, power, knowledge, acceptance, sexual gratification, etc., always on the look-out for new thrills, new acquisitions, new relationships, new experiences with which to “complete” themselves...and for what? What lasting value did they acquire? In the end, no matter who they were in terms of human esteem, they went the way of the lowliest of men: into eternity, unable to take anything with them, to stand before the One with whom there is no favoritism.

Matthew 6:19-21: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." 

Matthew 16:26 – “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” 

Luke 12:16-21 – “Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: ‘The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, [and] be merry." ' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' "So [is] he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.’"

In summary, worship is not something that God needs to complete Himself, nor is it a divine ego-trip. The call for worship is a call to humble ourselves in the sight of God, to recognize Him for who He is and what He has done, to acknowledge who and what we are in comparison to Him, to submit our wills to His sovereignty, and to focus on that which is truly important and of lasting value in both this world and the next.

Revelation 5:11-14 – “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!’ And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power [Be] to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!’ Then the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.”