“God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all of them that are about Him” (Psalm 89:7).

The pastor was young and quite new at the First Avenue Baptist Church. It was quite distressing to him to hear the loud chatter, fooling, and laughter during the prelude moments of the worship service. The organist practiced several times during the week, but nobody could hear her on Sundays because of the commotion of the boisterous congregation. Sometimes it took two or three times of the pastor calling to the congregation before they even began to settle down for the worship service. He prayed a lot about this, and then came the moment on Sunday morning when the young pastor stood before the congregation and called for their attention. He lovingly said, “Church family, we are here to worship the Lord who is awesome and glorious in every way. This morning I am asking you to respect Him and to take your seats. Please open your Bibles to Psalm eighty-nine and quietly read a verse or two. As our organist is playing, ask the Lord to speak to you through the service. Tell Him how much you are looking forward to worshipping with your church family.” With that the young pastor took his seat and did the exact same thing. Guess what? There was a hush and anticipation of what it meant to worship the Lord. It was a great service that Sunday, and this is exactly how that church family gathered to worship every Sunday! There would be plenty of time for conversation and fellowship after the service. But this church family discovered the blessing of quietly preparing to worship the Lord because of how they respect Him.

For today: God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints. This is a good reminder for us today!