Coming Back To The Core This New Year

The holidays are over, and the new year is here. My brain feels tired, and my body feels overworked. I was having extreme writer’s block and sat in front of the computer with no idea what to write. I thought I would go back and read my devotions from Decembers past for inspiration, and I was surprised when they all started the same way, tired physically and mentally, writer’s block, and long lists of chores to do. I mentioned this to my parents, and they encouraged me to listen to their pastor’s last sermon. I pulled it up on YouTube and it brought me back to the core of why I write. The pastor said, “Everyone needs Jesus, and everyone is our responsibility.” While he was talking about their church specifically, I couldn’t help but go back to the basics of why God called me to write in the first place, to bring readers to Him and to spend some quiet time with Jesus. So, that is what we are going to do today, we are going to spend the first week of 2025 at the throne room of God and fall at His feet.

Revelation 4 is a beautiful picture of the throne room of God. The chapter begins with God welcoming John into heaven. Before John was a door standing wide open indicating all is welcome. God says to John, “Come up here.” God wants us to go to Him in confidence, peace, and full surrender. John was immediately in the Spirit as he entered into heaven. John saw a throne with someone sitting on it. He saw a magnificent rainbow shining with all its brilliance encircling the throne and the one sitting on it. Then he looked around and saw twenty-four other thrones surrounding the throne of God. Seated on these thrones were twenty-four elders dressed in white and had gold crowns on their heads. Crowns were worn to represent honor and power. For the Romans a crown was a symbol of victory and reward. These elders obviously held some form of power to rule next to God. They were highly important people to have the privilege of a throne next to God’s. Many commentators believe these twenty-four elders to be the 12 patriarchs (the sons of Jacob) and Jesus’s 12 apostles.

If we skip down to verse 10, we read what the elders do when the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to God. “The twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.’” As I read this I was taken aback. These elders who obviously held some form power fell at God’s feet in worship and not only that, but they laid their crowns at His feet. True worship goes beyond words. True worship is a place of surrender.

“Praise the Lord, O my soul, I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.” Psalms 146:1-4

Psalm 146 is a perfect example of true worship. Committing to praise God all my life is surrendering my life to Him and His will. I will not place my trust in worldly things that will always fail and disappoint, my trust will solely be on the God who sits on the throne. One commentator says, “To fail to recognize God’s pervasive rule over all things means interpreting life as random and chaotic. To believe you are the master of your own destiny means thinking life has no purpose and missing the privilege of resting within God’s sovereignty and trusting His power.” He goes on to say, “We miss the opportunity to bow before God, whose splendor and majesty exceed any earthly king.” Life felt random and chaotic to me, I need to go back to the throne of God, falling at His feet and placing my crown before Him. As I was studying Revelation, my teacher asked, “What crowns are we trying to hold on to?” I try to hold onto my crown of worldly desires and false sense of control. When I feel overwhelmed, the only thing I that can ease me and bring back to the core of my relationship with God is taking my crown off my head and relinquishing everything over to Him.

A relationship with God requires an act of surrender and because of this many people reject Him. They crave independence from God more than submission to Him. The distorted view of the One in control points us to a downward spiral that misleads us to wrong priorities and values. The elders declared that God is worthy. He is worthy of surrender, and surrender is costly. One day all Christians will wear a crown on their heads as we look upon God’s throne, then we will lay our crowns at His feet and worship our God and Savior. The God who created us is worthy of our devout worship and full submission today. He is infinitely and eternally qualified to receive this gift from us.

I’m so thankful God used my parents and their pastor to bring me back to the core of who God is this new year. He is worthy of me giving it all to Him; my exhaustion, sadness, fears, need for control, my accomplishments and failures, even my writer’s block. He sees all and knows all. With this truth, we can openly give it all to Him because He already knows what we need. He is sitting on His throne with open arms, inviting us to come before Him.

“At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne.” Revelation 4:2-3

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Revelation 5:9b-10

Digging Deeper:

Read Psalm 100 and 146. How do these Psalms lead you to worship?

What is your idea of worshipping God?

What crowns do you need to lay at God’s feet in full surrender to Him?

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Gretchen LeechComment