Ten Basic Needs Met By Worship

(Faith : Worship)
Worship, Psychology in Worship, healing, basic needs, meaning of life, 感性模式, 敬拜的心理背景, Emotional Style, Theology of Worship,
In worship a person gives to the Lord all of the conflicts, struggles, and disappointments that affect his or her life. Leaving them in the Father’s hands, the worshipper focuses attention on the power and majesty of God. As we worship, the brokenness of our lives begins to be healed.
People have basic needs which can be met in worship. In the depths of our nature, we have certain conscious needs which must be met. Here is one attempt to express mankind’s conscious needs for worship.

  1. The Sense of Finiteness Seeks the Infinite.

    In the worship people seek completion – communion with “ultimate being.” Sensing our limitations, we go in search for the rest of ourselves. (Ps.8:1, 3-5)

  1. The Sense of Mystery Seeks Understanding.

    People stand in need of knowledge. We approach God as the source of all knowledge. This act of communion may be spoken of as worshipful problem solving. (Rom.11:33; Eph. 3:18-19)

  1. The Sense of Insecurity Seeks Refuge.

    In an age of uprooted, people realize their need for refuge and stability. (Ps46:1)

  1. The Sense of Loneliness Seeks Companionship

    In their estrangement and lost, people feel the need to be loved. Worship is the search for this love that alone can satisfy our loneliness. (Job 23:3; 42:5)

  1. The Sense of Human Belongingness Seeks Mutual Fellowship with Other Worshipers.

    In worship the early church felt itself to be one body in Christ. Joined and knit together in Christ, each believer worked to contribute his or her part in building up the body in the love of Christ (Eph. 4:1, 4-6, 16)

  1. The Sense of Guilt Seeks Forgiveness and Absolution.

    In worship the soul is laid bare before God. The worshipper acknowledges his or her quilt and pleads for cleansing. (Ps. 51:1,4,10)

  1. The Sense of Anxiety Seeks for Peace.

    Anxiety is a normal experience of human beings in their finiteness. As emotional tensions build up, the individual seeks release from them in worship, the deepest of all emotional experiences. This emotional experience can reach to the depths of a person’s need for rest and peace. (Ps.42:1, 11)

  1. The Sense of Meaninglessness Seeks Purpose and Fulfillment.

    The search for meaning is perhaps the deepest quest for modern men and women. In the depth of his or her soul a person realizes that he or she was created for a purpose. The search for meaning finds its deepest significance in the will to worship. (Rom. 8:28)

  1. The Sense of Brokenness Seeks Healing.

    God’s people cannot grapple with the enemies of righteousness in the real world without becoming broken and bruised. In a broken world, the believer seeks to be made whole. (Isa. 42:3)

  1. A Sense of Grief Seeks Comfort.

    Human beings grieve over their losses. (Isa.40:1) In the worship of the living Lord who overcame all grief and loss. (Jn. 14:1,27)

 
Franklin M. Segler