When true worship gets blended together with amusement, it yields varying types of worldliness and idolatry. In Exodus chapter 32, the children of Israel observed a “feast to the LORD” at the same time that they “rose up to play.” As men begin to grow increasingly cold and indifferent toward the Lord and His ways, they will seek ever more imaginative ways to make spiritual worship appeal to the flesh. This is often accomplished by uniting pleasure and worship. In an effort to keep people interested in the worship of God, churches add comedic relief, drama, carnal music, and a host of other worldly amusements. In doing so, the worship of God gets corrupted and becomes nothing more than idolatry or false worship.
Men should praise the Lord, and they ought to praise Him often. They should praise Him in scriptural manners and for scriptural reasons. Yet, no matter how lofty the praise may be that man offers to the Lord, it still falls short of declaring the greatness of God. In Nehemiah 9:5, the Levites admonished the people to “stand up and bless the LORD,” while at the same time expressing that the name of God far surpassed all their praises. Some might suggest that the failures of men’s praise should altogether exclude the praise, but the Levites emphasized that men still ought to offer their praise. Though the praise of men can never reach to the height of God’s worth, God still chose to inhabit the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3).
