Motives matter to God. Jesus plainly teaches that doing good so that you can be seen of men is fundamentally different than doing good so that God is glorified (Matthew 6:1ff). Evil and pure motives are readily discerned by God.
One continual motive for worship that all of God’s family ought to have is the joy and gratitude of deliverance. Like Israel’s frequent deliverance from physical harm and devastation, every member of spiritual Israel—God’s holy nation—has been repeatedly blessed with deliverance from spiritual harm and devastation.
Psalm 124 declares that Jehovah’s deliverance from harm is a worthy motive for His worship. “‘If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,’ let Israel now say—‘If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive when their wrath was kindled against us; then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul; then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul’” (vv. 1-5).
The only appropriate response to such a realization is fervent adoration. “Blessed be the Lord who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth” (vv. 6-8).
How wonderful it is that “our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth” is still true!
