Why worship? That’s the question of Psalm 81.
I know it doesn’t begin with a question. It begins with a call to worship. Please note that this is not some individualized private devotional in one’s “prayer closet.” This is a call to join in the celebration of God by the people of God – to join in the assembly.
The reason for the call is simple: Because God said to (vss. 4-5).
God rescued Israel (vss. 6-7) and because of the rescue, laid the expectation on them that they would worship (vss. 8-10). Israel did not, however, fulfill those expectations and the result was God’s abandonment of her (vss. 11-12) and her loss of all that could have been hers (vss. 13-16).
Why is the Christian assembly important?
For a lot of reasons, but surely one of those is that God expects us to assemble to worship and our future relationship with God is dependent on it. Again, that’s not the only reason, but it is reason enough.