Welcome. I’m so glad you will be joining me on this walk through Psalm 95.
Despite the quarantine and shelter in place orders that surround us, even the curfew that a lot of us are under, there is one thing we can still do, Praise the Lord.
Psalm 95:1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
This psalm contains many words that evoke thoughts from other Scriptures. I did a quick search and found six other Scriptures where Rock and Salvation both appear and every single one of them calls our God a Rock and the giver of Salvation. Took some restraint to not click on each one and read. There is much yet to cover here. So come, let us sing for joy to the Lord…
Psalm 95:2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
Thanksgiving is truly important. There are many places in Scripture where those who don’t thank God are not God’s people. If you want to be full of faith, thank God. To extol means ‘to praise highly’. So praise Him with music and song. Sing to the Lord. At all times let His praise be on your mind.
Psalm 95:3 For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
Psalm 95:4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
Psalm 95:5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
All of creation sings God’s praise, yet most of it we cannot hear with our limited hearing. There is no place you can go where He can’t see you. Nothing you can do that he won’t notice. The whole world is in His hand. Everything belongs to Him.
Psalm 95:6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
Psalm 95:7 for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd…
We are his flock. Each of us a sheep in His flock.
Today, if only you would hear his voice,
If only… Can you hear His voice? Let’s pray…
Lord, we’re here to really understand this Scripture, we’ve learned to praise you through everything for you are our Maker and our Rock and our Salvation, so we ask, please, open our ears to hear your voice. Give us soft hearts and the words we need to praise You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Psalm 95:8 “Do not harden your hearts
as you did at Meribah, [quarreling] as you did that day
at Massah [testing] in the wilderness,
Psalm 95:9 where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
Massah and Meribah can be found in Exodus 17, the first part, the story of the water from the rock. The consequences of their lack of faith, praise and thanksgiving resulted in…
Psalm 95:10 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.’
Psalm 95:11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’”
That generation died in the wilderness. Forty years.
That’s why we need to keep learning. Keep believing. Holding onto our faith and praising Him every moment. Giving thanks at all times, in everything.
1 Thessalonians 5:16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Give Him your heart and it will never go astray.