The joy of worshipping God

“Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.” (Psalms 95:1-2 NIV)

The words that open Psalm 95 are words that many still sing today. Although written thousands of years ago the psalmist well captured the joy we should have when we come together to praise God. Our worship should be a time of joy and thanksgiving as we praise God in song. But why does God deserve this?

“For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.” (Psalms 95:3-5)

We worship God because of who he is. He is great – in fact, he is not only great, but the greatest. He is above any other god there possibly could be, especially since any other god is a false one. God is real. He know every aspect of the world we live in, from the depths of the seas to the heights of the mountains. How does he know all his? It’s quite simple: he made it! He is the Creator of all that we see. This is why he deserves our worship.

“Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.” (Psalms 95:6-7)

We bow down in worship before God. We kneel before him, acknowledging that he is greater than we are because, after all, he is the one who made us. We are the sheep, he is our shepherd. As our God he takes care of us as a shepherd looks after his sheep. But how often do we not give him the credit that he deserves?

“Today, if only you would hear his voice, ‘Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did. 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.” So I declared on oath in my anger, “They shall never enter my rest.”’” (Psalms 95:7-11)

It might seem strange to end a joyful psalm with a warning, but if we are honest with ourselves we realise the need for such a warning. The psalmist refers to incidents when the Israelites were in the wilderness after leaving Egypt. At Meribah and at Massah they complained to God for something they didn’t have, and this happened twice! Both times it had to do with a lack of drinkable water (Exodus 17 and Numbers 20). Both times God provided what they needed.

Sadly, that characterised the Israelites, didn’t it? Rather than being thankful for what God gave them they complained about what they didn’t have. This continued for forty years. Because of their unfaithfulness many didn’t enter the Promised Land.

What about us? Are we any different? When we come together to worship is it with joy as we give thanks to God, our Maker? Or do we complain, perhaps in a different way? Where are our thoughts – on praising God or on whether the song was too high or too low, too fast or too slow. When we receive blessings from God are we thankful for what he provides or do we wish it were something else?

We need, like Israel, to learn that “he is our God and we are the people of his pasture”. He is the one who provided the way for our sin to be forgiven. When we truly recognise that all we have is from God then we should say, like the psalmist: “Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.”

Photograph of sheep near Netherburn, Scotland, by Jon Galloway.

Readings for next week: Psalms 94-105