THOUGHTS

SHORT, THOUGHT PROVOKING ARTICLES PUBLISHED BI-MONTHLY.

All articles are written using the NKJV, unless otherwise noted! All articles are written by David Hicks, unless specified otherwise.

A CALL TO WORSHIP AND OBEDIENCE!

In this short thought, we want to take a look at the 95th Psalm. This particular Psalm has been attributed to David, and this is affirmed by the Hebrew writer, note:

Hebrews 4:7 “again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts.””

 

Although the Psalm is attributed to David, as the physical penman, the Hebrew writer also makes it perfectly clear that David is inspired to write this by the Spirit of God, note:

Hebrews 3:7 “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,”

 

This fact of inspiration was something that even the Lord would reference in His own teaching, as he quoted some of the work of David, note:

Matthew 22:43-44 “He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:

44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”’?” Psalms 110:1

 

This Psalm is given through the Spirit to encourage the children of God (you and me as well, since the Hebrew writer has brought it forward to encourage us), to praise God joyfully, faithfully, and with true thanksgiving. In addition, they are charged to not test God in strife (rebellion – Hebrew ‘Meribah’; to simply do as God has commanded), or to test God (trying Him – Hebrew ‘Massah’).

These two charges become a platform definition for you and me today, of true worship in “spirit and in truth” (motivated by the reasons God gives and performed the way God says – John 4:24).

 

Psalm 95

A Call to Worship and Obedience

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
 2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
 3 For the Lord is the great God,
And the great King above all gods.
 4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
The heights of the hills are His also.
 5 The sea is His, for He made it;
And His hands formed the dry land.

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
 7 For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.

Today, if you will hear His voice:
 8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
 9 When your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they saw My work.
 10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation,
And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,
And they do not know My ways.’
 11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

Some things to consider in reading this:

It is easy, as men, to contemplate that the commands of God are optional, or subject to our scrutiny or change. However, just as the Psalm states, remember Israel in the day of their rebellion. They died without entering into the promised land. Note the Hebrew writer’s words to Christians as well:

Hebrews 4:1 “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.”

 

It is also a known commodity of human behavior that the longer our hearts dwell in disobedience (all out rebellion or testing the commands of God), the easier it becomes to settle, or rest in what God rejects and will bring His wrath in the end! The more one turns away the harder it is to come back!

Hebrews 4:2 “For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.”

 

Finally, for those who can still possibly state that the worship, given by God to please Him, is somehow un-inspiring, boring, un-entertaining, or not spiritual enough; it is strongly urged that this Psalm be read before each worship service, in order to set the proper aspects of why we worship God!

 

Hebrews 4:11-13 “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

 

Worship in Obedience and Truth!!!