Adapted from Nicky Gumbel
You and I were created to worship. But why? At first glance, the idea that God desires our worship can seem puzzling. Is God vain? Does He need our praise to feel complete?
Years ago, C.S. Lewis wrestled with this very question. In his book Reflections on the Psalms, he admitted he had once found the language of worship in the Bible troubling. Why would God command people to praise Him? Then Lewis discovered something profound—something that changed the way he understood worship forever.
He wrote:
“The most obvious fact about praise… strangely escaped me. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise. The world rings with praise—lovers praising their beloved, readers praising their favorite book, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game… I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment. It is its appointed consummation. It’s not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.”
In other words, praise is not a duty we reluctantly perform. It is the natural outflow of delight. When we enjoy something deeply, we cannot help but express it. Worship works the same way. Our joy in God is not complete until it overflows in praise.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it this way: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” Notice the link—glorifying God and enjoying Him are inseparable. True worship is the consummation of joy.
Psalm 98 gives us a picture of this kind of exuberant worship:
“Sing to the Lord a new song,
for He has done marvelous things…
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music” (vv. 1, 4).
The psalmist doesn’t describe worship as quiet obligation. It is bursting, jubilant, joyful, overflowing! Why? Because God has saved us, rules with justice, and will one day set everything right.
When we worship, we are not simply obeying a command. We are entering into the very joy of heaven. Worship completes our delight in God. It is the place where gratitude finds its voice, love finds its song, and our hearts find their true home.
So the question is not, “Why does God need my worship?” The question is, “Why would I withhold my joy?”
Worship is not just our duty—it is our deepest delight.
