“Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name. 
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; 
Who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases;
Who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion;
Who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.”

Do you ever have days when you don’t feel like worshipping?  As someone who leads worship for a living, I have to admit that sometimes I don’t feel like worshipping.  Some days I am tired and my throat hurts; other days, I am feeling down or distracted by other things.  Sometimes life just seems too hard.  Though I am ashamed to admit these thoughts and feelings, I know that they are more common than we would like to admit.  How do we come before the Lord of Lords in all His splendor and majesty when our hearts feel so apathetic?

It is in times like these that I look to the Psalms, one of my favorites of God’s gifts to us. The Psalms provide an entire arsenal of prayers and petitions that we can use when we find ourselves in a spiritual drought.  Take David for example; certainly his life was no picnic.  Between his bouts with sexual sins, murder and seasons of even running for his life, there must have been times when he felt reluctant to worship God.  But still we see him faithfully proclaiming the greatness of our Lord.  For David knew that the very quality of his worship was not based on his own volition but on the object of his worship - the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Though our affections for God may wax and wane, His character is unchanging!  We even see David speaking to his own soul, demanding of it, “Bless the Lord!”  He reminds himself even in the harshest of circumstances how good God is, recounting blessings that the Lord has bestowed upon him.

I think God knows that worshipping Him can be a discipline at times.  And like any other relationship in our lives, our relationship with the Lord takes work.  But on those days that are hardest to praise His name, that’s when I find worship to be the sweetest.  Though I may enter feeling tired or disconnected, I find joy and peace in the presence of God and the Holy Spirit sustains that worship, renewing my mind and restoring my heart.  All I have to do is show up.  God is not only the author of worship, but His radiance inspires us and enables us to bring Him the adoration due His name.

So, next time you are tired and feel as though you have nothing to give to God in worship, know that you are right.  There is nothing we can bring before Him that He hasn’t first given to us.  And on those hard days, we must confess that we don’t want to worship Him but we want to want to worship Him. Over time, He will cultivate that desire in our hearts and souls to say, with the great psalmist, “I will bless the Lord at all times.” (Ps. 34)