Could it be that our worship may not really be that? Could it be that we spend time honoring ourselves instead of God? I have read that some people go and visit other countries and enter into false and foreign god’s temples. In some places they use incense and sweet smell. It was mentioned that this is very satisfying and peaceful to the individuals who go there. Of course these incenses are used in the worship of these gods.
The LORD our Creator has given us rather specific information about how we might please Him and worship Him. But some times we, his creatures, begin to use our own reason and preferences and adulterate our worship of the LORD. We ignore His instructions. We borrow from others god’s mode of worship and apply it to the worship of the LORD thinking we do well or to please our own fancies. The Scriptures tell us that this is highly offensive.
Worship is not for our pleasure, particularly. It is to be to the pleasure of our Creator God. It is to honor Him. It is to show that we revere Him. We must do things and do them in ways that do not offend Him. It is part of the concept of the “fear of God”. As Jeremiah warns his own people about this, Chapter 1 teaches us that these same warnings apply to the nations.
Jeremiah 6:20 – 21 To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.