Introduction:
This psalm is a great Biblical call to worship, for 500 years used in the Church of
England morning prayer (Venite), and in the 4th century sung in churches while
worshippers assembled. It is good to greet one another before the service, but do we give
time to preparing to meet God? This psalm is an exposition of true spiritual worship,
which we much need. Several years ago a leading American evangelical joined the Roman
Catholic church, in part because of the poverty and casual informality of much evangelical
worship. He found solemnity, awe, and reverence lacking, and entertainment, judged by how
the congregation (or audience) feel about things, taking over. For him the aesthetic
beauty of buildings, pomp of liturgy and vestments seemed to provide the remedy. But the
same fatal flaw is there: you are an onlooker. At the other end of the spectrum is a
charismatic musical billed as "An expression of how God really feels". See what
that does to God--He becomes pocket-size, just like us, a projection of our own religious
emotions or subjective excitement. The pendulum swings from remote and theatrical to the
contemporary disco, but where is the Biblical perpendicular? What do we learn from this
psalm, for our own worship needs the enrichment of the Holy Spirit and the anointing of
God's presence among us. That is why the Spirit has inspired the Word to bring us the mind
of God. Two fundamental strands define true worship:
1. AFFIRMING WHO GOD IS, vs 1-7:
The preoccupation with the experience of the worshipper is western, 20th
century, a product of our individualised, self-gratifying culture. When we say, "We
had a great time of worship," we must be careful we are not really saying, "I
really enjoyed myself." It is right to enjoy worship, (vs 1-2), "singing,
shouting aloud"; an exuberance about true worship which is independent of the form;
not worked up by rhythm or mass psychology, but worked out by a mind and heart filled with
who God is. You may order the externals of worship, but only God can flood your mind with
his reality so that you overflow in songs of joy. Our worship today is so impoverished and
trivial because our knowledge of God is so pathetically inadequate and our experience so
man-centred. The act of worship is to affirm God in two equally vital and interrelated
ways:
(a) By our lips, vs 3-5. Worship in the Spirit because in truth. Our praise is not just an emotional expression; it is rational, has content. To be acceptable to God it must also be intelligent--not intellectual in the arid sense of head only--but rehearsing the reality of who God is so that mind and heart are equally stirred to celebrate his glory; not just "Let us…" but "For the Lord is…" (v3).
So what are we to affirm? That the Lord is King over any and every spiritual power. "Our God reigns" = an expression of faith. All praise is. That is why it is so powerful. It states the unchanging reality of God whatever the hostility around us. Hebrew poetry states totality by contrasts: v4, however high, however low, it is all his. v5, wherever in the world, it is God's world--he made it, owns it, controls it. He is the great God. Many people around the Psalmist were saying that other gods ruled: Molech, the deep and Baal, worshipped at high places. But although there are spiritual agencies of Satan behind all idolatry, there are no other "gods". The Lord is King, and we must make that same affirmation in the face of false gods of our 21st century. Life is not ruled by chance, fate or politics. It is not absurd and meaningless, nor about prestige and power, or wealth and status. They are not gods but belong to a decaying world and a passing order. Above them all our God, who has rescued us from idolatry, reigns and rules. Our worship, great hymns, contemporary songs, Psalms, prayers - affirm that God is and God is great.
(b) In our lives, vs 6-7. V6, the great God is our God, not just out there objectively, but here with us personally, our Maker (6b). From the exhortation of v1 to sing and shout, to that of v6 to bow down, kneel, prostrate our very lives before him; from the joy of praise to the reverence of self-abasement and surrender. The explanation (v7) "For…." Christians do not act irrationally but have reasons for what we do. We surrender our lives to him because the Sovereign God is also our Saviour God, our Shepherd God. Although far above in his majesty, he comes near us in his mercy. The word "Maker" (v6), used often in the Old Testament not so much in the sense of 'creator', but as describing the mighty acts of God by which he made his people his own. He has made us his; he is our God and we his sheep (v7). The same mind and hands that form and govern the universe guide and protect his people, with the individual care by which a shepherd knows his flock. He chooses his sheep, is committed to their welfare, provides their pasture and water. He goes before his sheep to guide and direct, at night counts them into the fold, with an expert eye on each one, and he becomes the door putting his own life between the sheep and the dangers around them. The Lord is my shepherd. Could anything be more wonderful? Our true response is to prostrate ourselves before him in wonder and awe, that he should do all this for us. That is not adequately expressed in a few minutes of corporate worship, but in a life of worship--everything submitted to the Saviour Shepherd, his will, his plans, his commands come first. How live any other way if we affirm that this is our God?
2. ACCEPTING WHAT GOD SAYS, vs 7c-11:
The voice of the Lord now speaks to his people--the other part of worship. Not only do we
praise God but we are to listen to him; not only sing his praises but hear his Word--both
are worship. The "We come to give not to get" view is quite wrong. We come to do
both. In many Christian groups today the latter is undervalued. I do not accept that
preaching can be "too important" in some of our churches, as some people
occasionally tell me. What goes before the sermon are not preliminaries, they are worship,
but we do not stop worshipping when we start to listen. Then is the time when God begins
to address us and our response to his Word is the acid test of the reality of our worship.
This is the place of instruction/teaching in worship. The Saviour/Shepherd God redeems a
people for himself and brings them under his care, then he teaches them how he wants them
to live. Not a ladder to climb to win God's favour, because he is a God of grace--but a
pattern of behaviour based on his own character, so that we can please him and grow like
him in all our thoughts, words and actions. The love of God provides us with the teaching
of his revealed Word, which then needs to be applied to our lives. Worship is listening,
but more - it is accepting God's Word.
(a) In our hearts. V8: Hearing brings immense responsibility. "If you hear…do not harden"; always the danger. We can have a marvellous time praising the Lord, but when he tells us to trust him or to obey him, and we do not want to, that is the test of worship. It is easy to say, "Lord, Lord," but do we actually obey or do we harden our hearts? Those who harden their hearts spend time quarrelling with God (Meribah v8) and testing God (Massah v8) (Exodus 17:1-7). They quarrelled with God's leader, put God on trial because their hearts were hardened in unbelief. Commentary (v9): They had ample evidence of God's love and power - the Exodus, Red Sea, sweet water, manna, quails - yet they would not trust God. They chose to harden their hearts. Every time we hear God's Word it has the potential to develop and increase our faith (Romans 10:17) or to harden us. The difference depends on whether we listen and accept it, or not. If we do, we move on to -
(b) In our lives. Hearing must affect our living. For a strong and resilient Christian life you need to listen to God's voice in Scripture daily, and to put yourself regularly under an expository teaching ministry. Without that hearts start to harden and we wander. Vs 10-11: a solemn indictment. A hard heart is an unbelieving heart, it leads us astray, brings us under God's anger, and will deprive us of the rest that remains for God's people, the blessings of our salvation .
Hebrews 3:12-14; 4:1-2: Worship is responding in faith to the Word of God as preached. They knew the Word but it was not changing their lives; is it changing ours? Central to Psalm 95 was that event at Rephidim, where a rock was struck that God's people might live. "Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation (v1). We are meant to see the stricken Rock with streaming side, our Saviour, Shepherd, Sovereign, who laid down his life for his people.
© 2001 David Jackman
David Jackman is Director of the Cornhill Training Course in London