Psalm 95 – Wonderful Encouragement to Worship The Great God of Heaven with Heart-felt Reverence
WORSHIP ARTICLE | John Hains | Smithville, Ontario
Verse 1 – “Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.”
From our Psalm 95 text, this 1st verse invites and encourages us to come together to worship the Lord in song! Our worship to the magnificent God of heaven is something He deserves – with all of our hearts – and to the highest degree! Our hearts ought to be filled with songs of praise – and adoration – because He is great and
greatly to be praised! (Psalm 96:4). The Lord is so generous and expressive to us in love, mercy, grace, and kindness that we can’t keep quiet – as our hearts overflow with songs of praise!
Have you ever noticed how many other passages in the psalms teach the same thing? So, you’ll be blessed to take the time to look up a large number of them with your concordance and a notebook. Those passages will encourage you to fill your heart with praises in song as part of your day, every day! Because – He is so worthy!
One of the most significant losses and hardships during the recent lockdowns for faithful Christians was that they were not legally allowed to physically gather for worship. We could not sing together, pray together at the building, nor were we able to eat the Lord’s Supper together. We could not come together to study His precious word.
In sharp contrast, Psalm 95 gives a beautiful invitation and picture of coming or gathering together to worship the Father.
I remember well the feelings expressed by the brethren on the first Sunday we were allowed to assemble all together again for worship services legally. So bountiful were the expressions of gratitude! For faithful Christians, this was everything. Although there couldn’t be handshakes or hugs, we could worship in songs and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in our hearts together to the Lord! Our study time together was rich. I learned that morning that public worship together may have been something many of us had taken for granted!
The devil hates it when God’s people gather together to worship Him (Matthew 4:9-11; 3 John 9-10). On that first Sunday back, I believe we all left with our hearts full! We need to fervently pray that our freedom to worship together will be protected and never be taken away.
God is the “Rock of our salvation,” we can trust that He is our solid foundation in and for life! That makes us think on verses like Psalm 18:2 that express further that point: “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Or Psalm 144:1-2 that affirms: “Blessed be the LORD my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle — my lovingkindness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me.”
Verse 2 –”Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with thanksgiving.”
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights,” James 1:17 affirms. When we consider the long list of blessings we receive from our heavenly Father, not just day-by-day, but moment-by-moment, we begin to understand that we truly have so much for which to give Him thanks! We communicate our hearts’ gratitude to Him by the words we express in our songs and prayers. It is a privilege to engage in worship with praise and thanksgiving in our hearts. And did you notice the link in this second verse between thanksgiving and joy? Again, He is so worthy! Genuine thankfulness creates genuine joy.
We need to be careful because we can easily fall into the mode of the hogs, enjoying the acorns that fell from the tree but never bothering to look up to see from where they came. It’s been said that thankfulness comes in three levels. Let’s consider this:
- First, the non-existent level is where we are just not thankful at all. Instead, we expect the good things that come to us. So while the Lord, most of all, along with other people, give and do so much for us, we expect all of it. Sometimes we take the givers and the gifts for granted!
- Secondly, there is the “verbal” level of thankfulness. This level is where our parents teach us to say “thank you.” Yet, isn’t it possible that we can mouth the words “thank you” a hundred times in a day and not be very thankful at all? If our hearts are not engaged or sincerely appreciative, we are not truly grateful. Our Father, who gives us so much, certainly does not deserve this type of thanks from us!
- Then we have a third level of thankfulness: the heart-felt level, where a person is so filled with gratitude that they can’t hold it in. It spills out everywhere so easily because this person appreciates the giver and the gift so fully and genuinely. This is indeed the thankfulness level that we owe to our Lord, who is so gracious and loving to us!
We’ve all experienced unthankful people. The person who feels entitled that they never bother to thank you for anything done or given to them is not pleasant to be around.
We may admit we don’t like being around an unthankful person like that, but how does our Father in heaven feel with unthankful children? He blesses them repeatedly with so many rich blessings. Yet, they do not feel gratitude in their hearts or even notice His blessings. So, let’s determine to be gratefully joyful and thankful children of the King! We owe Him this too!
Verse 3 – “For the LORD is the great God, and the great King above all gods.”
Speaking of the greatness of God, King David understood this truth well. How? He knew God and wanted to give the awesome God he knew great honour and reverence. Do you remember 1 Chronicles 22:5? David said: “‘…the house to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all countries. I will now make preparation for it.” So David made abundant preparations before his death.” The house to be built for God had to be exceedingly magnificent and great because God would live there! Similarly, do we find ourselves yearning to respond to the great God with extreme reverence, both in our private time with Him and in our public places of worship?
Here’s something to consider: when we arrive at our places of worship, reverence and respect are present with us. Christians may discuss worldly activities, affairs, and interests later, but this is a rich time to meditate on the greatness and magnificence of our God and prepare our hearts for worship. When we walk through the doors, we are coming before the throne of God in the assembly of the saints. Imagine the scene in Isaiah 6:1-6, when, in astonishment and fear, Isaiah said: “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” What an awesome privilege that was for Isaiah! At our places of worship, when we come before Him, although we do not literally see our amazing God, we too are before the throne of “the great King above all gods”!
Verses 4 and 5 – “In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land.”
How powerful and majestic is our God! It’s said that the tallest mountain that He made in the world is over 5 miles high—that’s a lot of rock! We can’t even calculate the weight of that mountain. Nor can we calculate the weight of all the other mountains and hills of the world. Also, it’s said that the waters off the coast of the Philippines are seven miles deep, and we think, “Wow, what a great volume of water!” More than that, it’s estimated that there are greater than 326 million trillion gallons of water on the entire earth. But for God, that’s not even enough to make a mud puddle. Consider His greatness as told in Isaiah 40:12-14: “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” And this is the mighty Creator we are allowed to come before and worship!
Verses 6 and 7a – “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.”
How can our spirits not yearn to worship, bow down, and kneel before the Lord, our Maker!?
God is our God. Isn’t that truly amazing!? What a blessing for each of us! And being the people of His pasture, how can we help but gratefully recognize and appreciate that He is the One who provides for us daily!? Both spiritually and physically. There is no safer place to be for life here and eternity! So we can trust Him with our very existence. Jesus taught this principle of great dependence on our Maker when He showed the disciples how to pray in Matthew 6:11-13: “…give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” So, every day, may we reverently praise and thank our Father for all the blessings He covers us with as His sheep! We need to be very thankful for all He gives to us so generously!
Verses 7b to 11 – “Today, if you will hear His voice: “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me; they tried Me, though they saw My work. For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.'”
Reading the last few verses of this psalm, we’re reminded how easy it is to have our hearts hardened toward the Lord, even while receiving His vast blessings and love! Can we determine to give the Lord the worship and praise we owe to Him? Our hearts ought to be filled with gratitude and love in return for God’s gifts. Let us always give Him the very best we have to give.
“…the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” – John 4:23.
“Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” – Psalm 29:2
January 2022 | GROW magazine
