Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our
salvation. Let us come to
him with thanksgiving. Let us
sing psalms of praise to him.
For the Lord is a great God,
a great King above all gods. He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
and the mightiest mountains. The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too. Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God. We are the people he watches over,
the flock under his care. If
only you would listen to his voice today! Psalm 95:1-7 (NLT)
Amidst
the difficulties and tragedies of life, as well as the birthday parties, family
reunions and other good times, there is always plenty of reason to worship God.
In
re-reading this Psalm I was struck by the sheer magnitude of the meaning of the
hands
of God. Within His hand there is the
beginning of all. The depths
(or caverns) of the earth, to the mountains, to the sea, and to all the land
are entirely in his hands.
Then,
of course, there are the created beings, fish, birds and all land creatures…including
us!
But
if you notice the Psalmist’s choice of words, all the created mass of the
universe is located in his hands; we by contrast are the people he
watches over; that’s a different place!
When
a human being holds something in his hand it is for safekeeping or because we
want to use it; when we speak of God watching over something it is to care
for and engage; it is to be in relationship.
And
therein is contained the answer to why we are here in the first
place.
For
what reasons are we made? Our God
created us for relationship with him, and that is a thought so very different
from any kind of “god” the mind of man invents.
When
the Psalmist pleaded if only you would listen to his voice today,
he opened to reality the door of that relationship; our engagement with God is
not only possible, it is breath and life.
It is through close engagement with our God we begin to understand how
much joy there is in worship.
We
are coming up on Palm Sunday and Jesus’ triumphant entry to Jerusalem. The people cheered, welcoming Jesus as
Messiah; the Pharisees objected, but Jesus said:
“If they kept quiet, the stones along the road
would burst into cheers!” Luke
19:40 (NLT)
So
here’s the point – don’t let the rocks beat you to worship; lift up your heads
and voices and worship the Lord!
For You Today
Find
some way to give praise to God today.
Not
just for what He has done; simply praise Him for the pure joy of worship!
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