Psalm 95 - An invitation to you, for today.

Here we are at Psalm 95, with an invitation to understand and take part in worship.

The world around us invites us to a different worship; to seek more of ourselves, centering ourselves, being present with what we see (Mindfulness), as the way to deep happiness and peace. Or more recently, to do good to feel good (Kindfulness) But isn’t what we read in Psalm 95 so much richer? Isn’t this what we were made for, right here? Using everything we have, that has been given by God our Maker, to praise him for who he is, with other people. This is worship.

We are encouraged to open our eyes to the God that we trust. We remember and say; Jesus is our Saviour, ‘The Rock of our Salvation’ (verse 1) We are safe for eternity with Him, by Him, nothing can destroy that. He is the King, over any ruler or authority on the earth or the other ‘gods’ we have made in our hearts.

We can worship God by proclaiming who he is; Our Maker, Our King, Our Saviour, Our Shepherd and our God. (verses 3 -7) We see that whatever we face – literally, emotionally, spiritually; whether we’re facing the sea, facing the land, looking down to the pits, looking up to the sky; God holds it all together. This is our God, we are in his care (verse 7).

Do you know that?

How does it make you want to respond?

This Psalm shows us what worship looks like; ‘Singing for joy, shouting out loud, playing music, singing songs’ (verses 1-2) ….and to ‘bow down in worship’ and ‘kneel before the LORD our Maker’ (verse 6). This isn’t something we can do internally. It’s about using our voice, our body, our knees, our hands. Literally getting on our knees to our God, speaking out loud our praise for him. This is cross-cultural, cross-generational, this is for anyone and everyone!

“Today, if only you would hear his voice”

Why is this warning here? Why can’t it just stay positive so we can use the full Psalm as a prayer of praise to God?!

In this second part of the Psalm we learn more of what worship is by looking back at the times in Massah and Meribah (in the Old Testament). This was when God’s people complained and tested God, even after he delivered them from slavery in Egypt and sustained them when they were in the wilderness. So God took away their blessing, these generations stayed in the wilderness and didn’t reach the promised land.

Here we see that worship is an act of obedience too, God calls us to worship. We also see the consequences of disobedience from the past, and if we are honest, we may know it from our own past too. If we don’t worship God, we so often and so easily become hardened to him. It’s so easy isn’t it when there are lots of distractions in front of us, when the world invites us to different worship, when things don’t seem good – to turn our gaze, our words, to something or someone else. And to choose to be alone, disconnected from Church family.

But the hands that are ‘holding the depths of the earth’ are the hands that are open to us now, inviting us to come and worship. This is our God, our Father, our shepherd, our saviour. This is the one to listen to. Encouraging us to remember, we are not on our own, we are made to worship, to worship together. Asking us to hear and respond to his voice today.

What will you choose to do?

And, who could you encourage to worship with you?