Duncan and God's Instructions for Worship

Duncan makes many memorable points in his explanation of God’s instructions for worship. One that made me think deeply was his explanation of the golden calf incident in Exodus 32-34. He explained that the overarching lesson found in this account is “that we cannot take the worship of God into our own hands” (p. 35). After recounting the story, he summarizes in this way:

The whole passage points [out] that how we worship is very important to God. Several application flow from this principle and its violation in the golden-calf event: (1) impatience with God’s timing is an enemy of faith; (2) we cannot choose our own mediator; (3) we cannot picture the true God as we wish or will; (4) we cannot worship the true God and something else; (5) we cannot worship the true God except in the way he commands….(p. 37)

He goes on to explain that we are often like the Israelites, taking the worship of God into our hands and thinking that we can improve on God’s plan for worship. However, this sort of attitude is so dangerous and, at best, can only end in a worship that is hollow. Oh, that we may carefully study the word of God and allow it to inform our worship rather than trying to do what we feel is best.