Worthship

I have been thinking for a long time about the concept of worship. There is something underlining my basic concept of God and Christianity that has made it difficult to understand some parts of the bible. I think the following question highlights the issue and has helped me clarify my mental block and difficulty.

Why does God need his ego stroked by our praise? 

That question feels crass but I had to ask it that way to bring out the issue for myself. When we see people in our lives that crave others recognition and demand it, we find them to be self-centered and egotistical. Yet throughout the bible we see prophet, poet, and apostle encourage us to praise God. The largest book of the bible is devoted to praising God. Why are we told to praise Him. Why does God need us to praise Him. Why does he need and even command our worship. This just gives the feeling that there is something lacking in God that He needs us to worship Him to make Him feel better. 

Genesis 22:5
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”

Worship here is a sacrifice. A gift to God not because God needs it, but because we need to give it up. We need to surrender the things that we treasure more than God. Worship brings us closer to God so that He can bless us according to His will. Worship of God opens the door for God manifesting His love for us.
Just to note, that in the New Testament, the first mention of Worship was the three wise men seeking the baby Jesus so that they might worship Him; offering gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

So worship begins with an offering. Something precious and valuable to the worshiper. Something given so that the worshiper can have less things separating themselves from the object of their adoration. When I approach God, is there something of this world that I am holding onto? Something that I desire more than him? I must bring this as an offering. This is how to worship. This removes the obstacles that keep me from my Lord. That draws me nearer to Him. Thus I get to know Him more. Knowing Him, leads inexorably to Praise. The purpose of worship is not Praise, Praise is the result of worship. The purpose of worship is to build a relationship with God.

Praise Him on high.

So when I think of the hero "worship" and the celebrity "worship" of our day, this is a poor picture of the real thing. God has since the beginning wanted nothing more than the best for us. The best thing for us is a relationship with our creator. That desire to be near Him, to be want to be close and spend our lives with Him is an attitude called worship whose act of worship is a surrender/sacrifice of our old self, the desires of this world, and the sinful nature of our former lives. 

Worship is not for God's benefit but our own. Praise is the outcome of worship as we discover His Worthiness. This highlights all the more for me, the importance of prayer and spending time with God. 

When thinking along these lines, it paints a less than flattering picture of God. There must be a misunderstanding on my part of both praise and worship. So as with all questions about God, I went to the source material to find out what bible has to say. I always start at the beginning. What is the first mention of Worship or Praise in the bible?

Abraham was being asked to make the ultimate sacrifice of his beloved son and he called it worship. Worship here is an offering, a sacrifice to God. We see Abraham obeying his Lord and giving up his future. Reading on in this passage, we can see a description of the worship Abraham was going to perform. He builds and altar. He binds his son, the hope of his future, Abraham's life, the most precious earthly thing, and places him on the altar to be given to the Lord. Once Abraham commits to giving up his son, God steps in and stops the sacrifice and gives Abraham a ram to die for his son. Then God rewards the worship by blessing Abraham with the promise that his children will outnumber the stars and all nations will be blessed through his seed.