Psalm 24:9 states “The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic.”
I love this verse! The voice of the LORD is so incredibly powerful. With it He created the heavens and the earth and all things in them; with His voice, He calmed the stormy sea and nature obeyed.
All throughout scripture you see “the voice of the Lord”:
…”strikes with flashes of lightening” – (Psalm 29:7)
…”twists the oaks and strips the forests bare” – (Psalm 29:9)
…”shakes the desert” – (Psalm 29:8)
…”will shatter Assyria” – (Isaiah 30:31)
…”Let us not hear [it]…or we will die.” – (Deuteronomy 18:16)
…”is over the waters” – (Psalm 29:3)
…”is powerful…is majestic” – (Psalm 29:4)
…”speaking out of the fire” – (Deuteronomy 4:33)
…”thunders in marvelous ways” – (job 37:5)
…”all who hear will live” – (John 5:25)
And the list goes on. These are just a few verses talking about the “voice” or auditory sense of God; this doesn’t even begin to cover the other sensory parts of God that He uses.
What is amazing to me is how every part of God’s very being is hemmed full of glory, power, might, love, justice, strength, mercy, compassion, jealousy, provision, and so forth.
This displays to us on a larger scale the incredible God we serve. No man could ever concoct or create such a concept as our God. And Praise God that God is into God so much that He has revealed Himself to us in so many ways!
This is why we do what we do by using all the aspects of music, media, preaching, fellowship, lighting, etc. in our worship service to reach out and connect people with God using the tools that reach the senses.
To hug, shake hands, kiss babies, etc. in fellowship is touch, just as He touches our lives. Our visual aids of lighting, power point, notes, etc. are a visual sensor being used.
The music and teaching are auditory means; we use candles and scents to connect smell to our experience.
And taste? how about the communion elements?! “Taste and see that the Lord is Good.” “I am the Bread of Life…”
As creatures created in the image of God, we are gifted with a few senses that we can and should use to connect with God at any chance. Even in the 2nd church ordinance of holy communion Jesus didn’t instruct us to go through some precarious motion on a random mountaintop somewhere, He used two elements that would be found in any home with easy access. This is the amazing dichotomy between the awe and splendor of God and His relatable means to which he shows us His amazing love.
It is common in modern churches today to focus on the means of triggering sense to reach an end of “attracting people” into church. Rather, I would argue that we use these means to create an atmosphere that people can connect with God in as many ways as He gave us possible to do so. This is what we would call using the 5 senses in worship.
