Day 23 – Psalm 95
The first two verses of this psalm always brings a smile to my face as it reminds me of a song that was sung in church when I was about 7 or 8 years old! If you were in church in the mid 90s I’m sure you’re humming it now too!
Well, across the whole world every week the Church gathers in cathedrals, churches, chapels, schools, halls, community centres, cinemas to name a few of the type of places many call church, to do just as the psalm says: “Come, let us sing for joy to Lord!”
The word ‘Come’, is one of encouragement, of bringing others with you, of calling those nearby to see what you’re about to do. If someone asks you to ‘come here!’, you can’t easily refuse.
There’s such power in a crowd, singing at the top of their voices and when there’s conviction it’ll stir everyone up to praise God! The psalm goes on to say: “Let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation!” - we don’t always get rowdy (in a good way!) in a Service, but the psalm tells us to shout to God, for He is the very foundation (Rock) of our faith!
Verses 3-5 continue describing our God, His character and what He has done! He is King and Creator.
Verses 6-7 then speak to me about reverence in our worship. We are to bow before our God, before our Maker – the psalmist then uses the shepherd and sheep picture; “we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.” The Lord is our Shepherd, He will look after us (Psalm 23).
The second half of the psalm can feel very different in tone and unrelated to what has come before. However, if we are to be people of praise, speaking out and living out the truths of God, then we also need to be people who hear God’s voice. John 10:27 says: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” We certainly don’t want to be people who forget what God has done for us (like the Israelites did). We should be people who want to enter into all that God has for us.
Think it over / Meditate on:
Find a worship song to sing to God today – pay particular attention to the words and declare His goodness and faithfulness.
Who can you encourage to ‘Come’, to worship, to a Service, to pray today?
Do you hear God’s voice? What does God want to say to you today and remind you about?
Charmaine
Charmaine Croxson, Senior Leader