Reading: Psalm 95
Imagine
receiving an invitation to eat dinner with the President of the
United States—pick your favorite president just to keep politics
out of this. What would you do? You'd clear your calendar. Psalm 95
is an invitation from a king. Not just any king, “the
great King above all gods...”.
A Voice Calling Us to Worship
Psalm
95 calls us to worship. The speaker is a fellow member of the people
of God, presumably a leader of the congregation. The recipients of
this call are the people of God—members of the community of God's
people. It is an invitation to come and sing joyfully with songs of
praise, giving thanks in His presence (Psalm 95:1-2).
The
ground or basis of this call to worship is the greatness of our God.
(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. (Psalm
95:3-5)
This
invitation is not like invitations which we are accustomed to
receiving. We receive invitations to various events (weddings,
graduations, etc.) with an R.S.V.P. request. It is optional. If you
don't desire to come it is often hoped you might send a gift. Either
way, your presence is requested, even desired, but there are no
negative consequences for not coming. This invitation, however,
appeals to the recipients not to brush it aside. There are
consequences for not accepting this invitation.
God, “the
great God, the great King above all gods,” the
Creator of and therefore Sovereign over the sea and dry land (the
whole earth), has invited you to come and worship. He has invited you
to come and worship in a certain way: with singing and joyfully. Why?
Is this invitation only for those who prefer to worship with singing
and joyful noises, but not for those who prefer to worship quietly?
No, because the greatness of who He is calls for this kind of
worship—worship that speaks to the greatness of God from
all—especially those of us who aren't naturally inclined toward
this worship.
We
are called to come and worship in a way that befits the King; in a
way that doesn't belittle the greatness of our God. Worship is about
God and His greatness; it is not about us. And since our God is great
and above all, our worship should be joyful. (This does not mean
there are never times for grieving before God. Even those ought to
ultimately lead to joyful worship.)
Today If You Hear His Voice - Worship
There
is something that I have often missed when reading this psalm. It is
found in the relationship between the first part of the psalm and the
second: the call to worship and the warning to heed the call to
worship. It can be identified clearly when we see the logical
connection of verses 6, 7c-8a, and 11.
INVITATION: (6)
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our
Maker...
WARNING
TO HEED INVITATION: (7)
…Today, if only you would hear his voice, (8) “Do not harden your
hearts...
CONSEQUENCE
OF REFUSAL: (11)
So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'”
It
helps to see that the Hebrew word for “come” in
the invitation v 6 is the same as that for the word “enter” in
v 11. In English it would be a little more awkward, but to emphasize
the point we might read it, "Come,
let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our
Maker...'They shall never come into my rest.'" The
call to come into worship, if refused, is met with the consequence of
never coming into God's rest. That doesn't seem odd when we
understand that God's rest is found in Him and in glorifying Him.
What
does this mean? It means the people of God must take seriously the
call to worship our God. The mission of God is ultimately about the
nations rendering to God the worship due His name (see Psalm 96:1-3;
7-9). It means that in order to respond to God's invitation to come
to Him, we come worshiping Him. It also means that to reject God's
call to worship Him in joy is to harden our hearts. That hardening
reflects hearts that have gone astray and have not known God's ways
(Psalm 95:10).
Psalm
95 is both an invitation and a warning. This invitation and warning
are captured in the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews reverses the
order: it begins with a warning not to neglect such a great salvation
(Hebrews 2:1-3), which is restated in the words of Psalm 95 (Hebrews
3:7-13) with an appeal not to allow our hearts to be hardened by
sin's deceitfulness, and then appeals to us to draw near (come) and
call on the Lord for his mercy (always a part of our worship)
(Hebrews 4:16). This appeal to “draw near” and enter God's
presence returns toward the end of the book (Hebrews 10:19-22). The
writer of Hebrews applied the truths of Psalm 95 directly to those
who considered themselves part of the community of faith in Jesus.
This means it applies directly to us.
The
Hebrew Christians had been around for some time; their faith was not
as white hot as it was in the beginning (Hebrews 10:32-39). They
needed to be reminded of this call to passionate worship of our
magnificent God because of this salvation as great as that wrought by
Jesus Christ. What about you and me? I need to be reminded. God is
reminding me through Psalm 95. But I need more than a reminder. Today
if I hear His voice, I need to respond in worship! Join me. Today, if
you hear His voice...sing, sing joyfully, and render the worship due
His name. Do not harden your heart.
Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,
Jerry
Jerry
