Tuesday 21 August 2012

The Verse - Psalm 95

I know I've been doing rather a lot of Psalms lately, but that's because I'm reading them at the moment in my Bible reading plan. Thankfully, however, the kind author of this plan has alternated them with other Scriptures, so you don't have to read 2 months of Psalms straight. Not that this would necessarily be a bad thing...

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. 
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.
 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.

Psalm 95:1-7 (NIV)

I read this the other day, and found that I actually knew all the words (well, at least the first 7 verses) because I learnt them in a hymn that is on the Exalted Worship CD. I'm normally not one to plug things in my Scripture posts, but this worship CD is seriously amazing. I don't think such an incredibly humbling, uplifting, clarifying, beautiful collection of hymns and prayer has ever been made before. You can buy it at Wretched Radio and I highly recommend that you do. 

Yet again, I digress. I also wanted to share this Psalm with you because I thought it was incredibly beautiful. How often in our busy hectic lives we forget to meditate on who God is; we so easily slip into the daily routine that leaves God on the wayside. 

Instead, we should do as David suggests: sing joyfully, praise and shout aloud to God at every opportunity because He has saved us. We should thank Him for this constantly - not only at Easter or when we have the Lord's Supper on a Sunday - because He constantly shows grace, mercy and love towards us. 

I know that when praying, I often forget who in fact I'm praying to. Or else when I'm reading the Bible, I forget that this is the Word of God, speaking to me. We don't need God to give us additional instruction personally or to provide dreams or visions, although if God wishes to communicate to us in this way I'm sure He can. But think about it: we have a whole book of God's complete revelation! What more could we possibly need? It saddens me that so many Christians spend much effort and energy trying to receive a "Word from God" while their Bible, which is filled with God's Word, remains closed on their bookshelf.

In addition, if you ever think your problems are too big for God, or that perhaps some things are out of God's control, just read this Psalm. Our God is above all gods because He is the creator of the universe, and thus deserves our worship!



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