Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Reason to Worship

[1]   
Thursday, February 26, 2015
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!



[1] Title image:  By Peter van der Sluijs (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

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