Psalm 95-2.3.22
Scripture:
Psalm 95 NIV
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. 3 For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; 7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice, 8 “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did. 10 For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.’ 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.
Observation
Psalm 95 is a Passage on how to Worship.
In this Psalm we are challenged to:
-A call to rejoice
-A call to reverence
-A warning
Understanding
-The beginning of this Psalm verses 1-5 we are challenged to bring praise to the Lord. We are told to shout, to bring thanksgiving and to extol Him with music and song. I know for many this can be intimidating. The enemy whispers to us that we aren’t the best singer, or that we will look and sound dumb. Maybe we look around and no one else is shouting so we feel uncomfortable. However as I read this Psalm I’m challenged to be joyful, to shout, to come with a thankful heart. Imagine what our worship service would look like if we stopped thinking about ourselves and gave God what He deserves. Something that has always challenged me to be a worshipper is when the Lord said to me that I can be loud and shout at football games or other things like concerts etc. How come I’m not embarrassed then but I can’t be all out in worship?
-The next thing I’m challenged with is this call to reverence in verses 6-7. Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord. I think as Christians we have lost this art of reverence. I know scripture describes God as a friend, a loving father, etc. But we forget He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I was recently studying and have really been focused on the fact that the thing that sets Jesus apart from any other region and their God, is that Jesus defeated death and the Grave. This was the enemy of God, death. Jesus rose on the 3rd day proving He was the king of the world. Wow, come on!! I mean this alone should cause you to bow down and kneel before God in worship. It’s time we come back to giving God reverence.
-This Psalm serves a warning in verses 8-11. It tells us that when we fail to worship God it is one of the main causes of a hardened heart. They saw what God had done, but they never really knew His ways. When we learn to praise God because He’s worth it, not because we feel like it, our perspective is changed. Worship is giving God His worth. It changes our focus and ultimately changes our hearts. When Paul was prison in Acts 16, he didn’t sit and complain that this wasn’t what he expected or that he was hurt and upset. No, he chose to praise and worship God anyways. His praise broke him free from his prison. See we have a choice to make: let our prison (the things we are dealing with) break our praise, or let our praise break our prison. What was the thing satan wanted, to be like God. So of course he doesn’t want us to worship God.
-This passage challenges us to not just worship God in the church, but also worship God in our obedience. We are called to shout praise, as well as our persistent trust and obedience which is evidence of our true worship. The scripture says in verse 7 that we are the people of His pasture and the flock under His care. If we worship God as our Shepherd, we must follow as the sheep of His pasture. Obedience is key!
Life Application
Two things I am challenged with.
Give God all you have in worship. Sing, shout, kneel. Whatever you need to do to ascribe God his worth. Don’t hold back, come with a heart after God.
Obedience is key to true worship. Learn to obey the little things.
-Justin Eaves