Quiet Acts of Worship – Wendy Abboud
One day, I opened my mouth to begin praying for a sweet sister who was battling sickness in her household. Between sickness she had been dealing with herself and sickness in her children, it had been rough. It had been ongoing for a couple of weeks. At this same time, her husband was away in another state on a ministry trip preaching the Gospel. While he was out on this particular trip, people were saved and there were some wonderful testimonies of people coming to the Lord! It was clear the Lord had him there doing that work.
As I began to pray for her, the Lord stopped me and had me consider her situation. He immediately began to speak to me from her life. It was convicting. It led to my repentance before the Lord and a greater desire for Him to work within me and bring change to my heart. All the while, she had no idea how the Lord was using her life to speak to me.
I thought about how she willingly let her husband go on the ministry trip because she knew it was what He was called to do. I’m sure there was a desire in her heart to go and be directly part of this work, sharing the Gospel, praying with people in an altar, seeing people respond to Jesus with her own eyes, etc. Nonetheless, she willingly let him go, knowing the physical and mental fatigue it would cause her as she cared for their children and home by herself while not feeling well. Caring for children while being ill with no rest can be downright painful and she was going to sacrifice help and physical comfort so that the Gospel could go forth. Her heart was willing to endure it by the grace of God for Jesus.
God began to speak to me from her life and say “See this life? She was just as much apart of the Gospel going forth as the people who went and did the preaching. As she cooked, performed everyday life tasks and faithfully cared for her children while suffering sickness herself, I saw it. It was behind the walls of her home, but I saw it and those quiet acts of worship were precious to me. She sacrificed unto Me so that her husband could go and preach My Word and I saw it.”
This was worship purely done unto the Lord and seen by no one else but Him. There was no applause and yells of “Amen!” as she cooked, cleaned, homeschooled and loved her children while in pain. There was no recognition. There was nothing to gain from being seen by the eyes of others. It was just her and Jesus. It was all done by Jesus, through Jesus and for Jesus.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells the crowd, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:1-4
This verse speaks a lot of giving to the needy but the primary message of the verse is that our good works, the giving of ourselves, the giving of our resources, etc. is truly only to be an act of worship unto our Lord. The only concern and delight of our heart should be that He sees it. The phrase “quiet acts of worship” comes to mind.
I believe the Lord desires a willing heart that says “Yes, Lord. I want to say Yes to you no matter what the cost is for me and regardless of who else sees. My heart wants to do this for You and You alone. There’s nothing in it for me except to please You, worship You and love You.”
Dear brother or sister, may our great Potter work this into our hearts more and more as we submit to His careful and precise workmanship.
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Colossians 3:23-24