Workday Prayers: Worshiping God at Work
Scripture Reading – Psalm 95:6-7 (NRSV)
O come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Focus
We worship God for many reasons, including the fact that God is our Good Shepherd, the one who cares for and protects us. Of course, we worship when gathered with the people of God. But we also worship by giving all that we are to God all the time. Thus, we are able to offer our work to God as worship. Faithful work is one way we respond to God’s shepherding care for us.
Prelude
When we think of worshiping God, we generally and understandably envision what we do when gathered with other believers as the church. We think of our Sunday worship services or perhaps other experiences at camp or in small groups. It is certainly right for there to be times when we join with our sisters and brothers to bow down and offer our lives in service and submission to God.
But worship doesn’t happen only in church. And it doesn’t happen only when we’re singing or praying. In Romans 12:1 it says, “[P]resent your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” We are invited to worship God in all we do, in all of our words and deeds, in every part of life.
Why do we worship God? The Bible gives us many answers to that question. Our worship is a response to God’s majesty, mercy, and grace. We bow in worship before God because God is King of kings and Lord of lords. But Psalm 95 also emphasizes another reason for worship. In this passage we are reminded that worship is a response to the God who is our Good Shepherd, the God to whom we belong personally, the God who watches over us and gives us life. Even as a shepherd cares for and nurtures the sheep, so God cares for and nurtures us. We respond by offering our love and our lives to God in worship.
Prayer
Gracious God, you are indeed “a great God, and a great King above all gods.” We are reminded of your greatness by the vastness of the sea and the soaring majesty of the mountains. All the earth proclaims your power, your beauty, your sovereignty.
Thus, today I offer myself to you in worship. May what I do this day at work be an offering to you. May I be conscious of the fact that I’m not just working for the boss, and not just earning a paycheck, but also using your gifts to worship you through my work.
O God, you are worthy of my everyday worship because you are awesome, but also because you are my Good Shepherd. I belong to you. You know my name. I call me, care for me, and protect me. This is true always and everywhere, including my time at work.
Thank you for watching over me. Thank you for all the ways you nurture me. Thank you for being with me always, even right now. Amen.
Ponder Throughout the Day
Worship God as you work today because God is your Good Shepherd.
For Further Reflection
Read all of Psalm 95.
Also, you might read Psalm 23 and John 10:1-18.
Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the High Calling archive, hosted by the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Where Worship Leads
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Mark D. Roberts
Senior Strategist
Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a Senior Strategist for Fuller’s Max De Pree Center for Leadership, where he focuses on the spiritual development and thriving of leaders. He is the principal writer of the daily devotional, Life for Leaders,...