Psalm 95

Finding Inspiration and Wisdom

in

Psalm 95

A Psalm of

Celebration and Dedication

The whole psalm is written out
near the bottom of this page.

Verse 1

O come, let us sing unto the Lord:
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

God is telling us that he wants us to sing to him.

God tells us multiple times in the Bible to sing to him.

God likes singing.

He even sings over us (Zephaniah 3:17).

Psalm 95 says: Let us make a joyful noise.

This means a happy attitude noise - which is an honoring noise of singing and speaking and perhaps even playing instruments.

Let us make a joyful noise

to

the Rock of our Salvation.

God reminds us that
when
we are singing and making a joyful noise -
we need to remember that we are
to focus on him during our praise and worship.

This reminds us that it is not about getting in front of a church and performing for people - but focusing on God.

This verse gives us one of the names of God which is:

The Rock of our Salvation

There are a vast number of verses that speak of God as a rock.

Here are a few of them:

Psalm 78:35, Psalm 18:31, Genesis 49:24, Deuteronomy 32:15,
1 Samuel 2:2

Also see Psalm 27:5 for a section on God as a Rock.

I remind you that God is a Trinity.

God the Father, God the  Son, and God the Holy Spirit

We have a page that Explains The Trinity

And of course we celebrate that

Jesus Christ - our Savior - is our Rock

If you like reading about the names of God,

we invite you to our Psalm 18 and the Names of God page.

Verse 2

2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

God commands us to be a thankful people.

If we are listening to God's voice,
we will become more thankful in our life.

Gratitude not only draws us toward God but it draws our emotions upward and increases our daily happiness.

One great way to make a joyful noise is to speak out-loud the psalms!

Singing the Psalms

Note that in Bible days all the psalms were put to music so it was always understood in Bible days that the psalms were musical.

Psalm 95:2  reminds me of the beginning of Psalm 100.

Please consider visiting our devotional page about Psalm 100.

We also invite you to visit our Gratitude Prayers.

Verse 3

3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

Psalm 95 verses 1-2 tell us what God wants us to do.

Psalm 95 verse 3 tells us why we should do it. And the reason is:

Because God is the Great God, the Great King,

the Great One above all gods.

Verses 4-6

4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.

5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.

Here we are reminded that all the earth is His - the land all the way down to the depth of the earth and all the way up to the top of the hills, and all of the sea.

God created the world and he created us.

And one day
You and I
are going to be accountable to that God.

Our proper response to God this very day is:

6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.

The Lord is Worthy!

The Lord is worthy of our praise, our worship, and our total devotion.

Note that we have a Worship section near the bottom of the page. 

A Prayer to our Awesome God

Lord of all Creation,

You are worthy.

You are worthy of my time. You are worthy of my attention. You are worthy of my devotion.

I will live my life for you.

Amen

Copyright © 2014 Beth McLendon of Inspirational-Prayers.com

This prayer is also posted on my Blog page.

Verse 7

7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice,

8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

(We are just focusing on Verse 7 in this section.)

Here in verse 7,

God is reminding us

that he is our Maker -

our Creator -

our Shepherd -

our Sustainer.

Therefore, we owe our allegiance to him.

In Jeremiah 2:32b TLB

God says:

Yet for years on end

my people have forgotten me -

the most precious of their treasures.

-

God tries to draw all of us to himself with his love.

But some resist.

Some, like C.S. Lewis only initially come to God

because

they realize

that

He IS God

and if they do not repent,

they will go to hell.

C. S. Lewis

It wasn't the love of God that stirred the
great Christian writer C. S. Lewis
to surrender his life to God.

It was his realization that without repenting
and giving his life to Jesus,
he would go to hell.

In his book called Surprised by Joy,
he tells of his conversion to Christianity.
He says that he came kicking and screaming
but one day he did sincerely give his life to Jesus.
And soon after, he was "Surprised by Joy!"

God reaches out to each of Us

The Great God of the Universe
reaches out to those who rebel against him.

God does this in Jeremiah.

In Jeremiah 5:21-22 TLB
God says:

Listen, O foolish, senseless people -
you with the eyes that do not see and
the ears that do not listen -
have you no respect at all for me?
the Lord God asks.

How can it be that you don't even tremble in my presence?
I set the shorelines of the world
by perpetual decrees,
so that the oceans,
though they toss and roar,
can never pass those bounds.
Isn't such a God to be feared and worshiped?

God is worthy of respect.

May we always remember that:

He is our Shepherd and we were created to be

his sheep.

Unfortunately many people refuse to follow him.

Note that we have a page called Jesus  -  Our Good Shepherd

And we have a devotional page called The Sheep of His Pasture.

~

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them,
and they follow me.

John 10:27 NKJV

Dear Lord,

You are the awesome Ruler of the Universe.

You are the Merciful and Mighty One.

You deserve our total devotion and praise.

Keep us on fire for you.

Keep your light burning brightly inside of us.

Draw us ever closer to you and your will for us.

In Jesus’ name we pray,

Amen

Copyright © 2015 Beth McLendon of Inspirational-Prayers.com

The above prayer was first presented on our blog page.

Verse 8

8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

In Psalm 95
God warns us against hardening our heart.

Hardness separates.

A hard heart separates us from God and from others.

The harder the heart against God, the more separation from God.

A hard heart not only affects relationships
but the entirety of our life.

 Proverbs 28:14 The Message says:

“A tenderhearted person lives a blessed life;

a hardhearted person lives a hard life.”

Certain behaviors create a hard heart,

and certain behaviors create a tender heart.

Over the years I have watched many relationships become strained and then crumble because of a hard heart (sometimes two hard hearts).

That has lead me to focus on learning more about hard vs. tender hearts.

God wants us to cultivate a tender, gentle heart.

Ephesians 4:32 NKJV says,

“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted,

forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

A tender heart is the secret to great relationships.

It is the secret to a great relationship with God
and with other people.

Consider visiting our page called The Secret.

Verse 9

9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

(We are just focusing on Verse 9 in this section.)

Here God is reminding the Jewish people that their ancestors got to put God to the test and see his deeds.

God took care of them for 40 years.

Even after all that tender care, almost all of them had hard hearts that were not converted. They still lacked love for their Maker and Sustainer.

Verse 10

10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

God's use of the words "Forty years" helps us understand that he is referring to Moses and the children of Israel in the wilderness. 

Some theologians think there may have been as many as a million people with Moses. Yet take note that only a handful were truly loving God in their heart.

In this psalm, God reminds us that most of those people did not truly know his heart and his ways.

A true believer seeks to know God better.

A true believer has a tender heart toward God.

A true believer mourns over his or her sin

and seeks to overcome sin in his or her life.

All people of all time periods 
can benefit from this verse 
if we realize that God is saying 
that he will give us lots of chances to repent
and follow him 
but his mercy has a limit.

God teaches us about his unconditional love 
but he also tells us that he does not ignore lawless living.
We cannot live in continual unrepentant sin.
We must repent and learn to follow God's ways.

The phrase "To err in our heart" sounds so unnoteworthy. It sounds like such a simple thing.

But it is not a simple, insignificant thing.

It reminds me of verses in Jeremiah.

In Jeremiah chapter 3,

God powerfully speaks to rebellious, unashamed sinners

who are continuing in unrepentant sin. 

In Jeremiah 3:4-6 in the Living Bible,

God says,

"And yet you say to me,

'O Father, you have always been my Friend;

surely you won't be angry about such a little thing!

you will just forget it?'

So you talk, and keep right on

doing all the evil

that you can."

Those verses are sobering.

Those verses get our attention.

They remind us that God is not a pushover.

He demands respect from us.

Even his love for us will not replace

our need to respect him.

Proverbs 16:2 TLB reminds us:

We can always "prove" that we are right,

but is the Lord convinced?

We need to use wisdom and realize

that when we neglect to make ourselves right with God,

it brings on terrible consequences.

Psalm 95 tells us, "They did not know my ways."

God tells us in Isaiah 55:8, "My ways are not your ways."

We get to know God's ways by reading the Bible.

Our Main Purpose on earth

God created us to make a decision. That decision is the most important decision of our life. We are created to decide if we want to follow God and learn his ways - or not.

The pure in heart SEE God.
Matthew 5:8

The pure in heart SEE God. That means they understand God - they are intimate with God. It is through their seeking to obey God that they become close to him and experience the joys of deeply knowing God.

As we follow God,

we become more and more pure in our mind.

We never arrive but we can make great progress.

Only by learning and following the ways of God can you see God. Intimacy with God is in-to-me-see. God knows us intimately. The question is, "Do we know him intimately?"

God is warning them in this psalm
not to choose what most of their forefathers chose.

God is also warning us.

This psalm is for us too.

Each day we have the choice to follow the Lord or not.

In fact, we have that choice multiple times a day.

Verse 11

11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

God is making it clear that his wrath against sinful rebellion will not be quelled forever.

God gives us opportunities to turn from our sinful ways and sincerely seek to follow him, but if we ignore those opportunities, then......

We will one day find his wrath,

and

we will be forever hindered from entering into his heavenly rest.

Hebrews 4:3a AMP

For we who have believed

(adhered to and trusted in and relied on God)

do enter that rest

Hebrews 4:6b AMP

Those who formerly were given the good news about it and the

opportunity, failed to appropriate it

and did not enter because of disobedience.

Hebrews 4:5 AMP

And

[they forfeited their part in it, for]

in his

[passage]

He said, They shall not enter My rest.

As in Psalm 95:1 1

THEREFORE

Hebrews 4:7b AMP

>>>>   Today  <<<<

if you would hear His voice

and when you hear it,

do not harden your hearts.

TODAY

If God convicts you about something

DO NOT

Harden Your Heart.

A Loving God

Some people have a hard time understanding

a God of love that would one day

put someone he loves in hell.

Understanding God's love:

The fact is that God wouldn't be loving
if

he did not

punish rebellion

that refused to repent.

Then

heaven would be heaven no more.

It would just be

an eternal hell

where the rebellious made life miserable for everyone.

Even on earth we must punish certain forms of rebellion.

How could we be a loving people
if we let
murderers kill
and then we never punished them.

What kind of awful hell would we have on earth if we did that?

Most unsaved people think that their sin
is really not that bad.

They compare themselves to others
instead of comparing themselves to the holiness of God.

Let's pray fervently for our unsaved loved ones!

See our page of prayers - Here

The only way to get to heaven

is

Giving our life to Jesus

and allowing his blood sacrifice to cleanse us,

will result in us being allowed into heaven.

See our page - Understanding Salvation

For those who follow Jesus and live for him:

This life here on earth is as much of hell as we will experience.

For those who refuse to follow Jesus and live for him:

This life here is as much of heaven as they will ever experience.

And when the unsaved die, they will find the fullness of hell.

See our page: What is heaven and hell really like?

This concludes the commentary.

Worship Section

Lord,

I will glorify you.

I will give you glory and honor with my mouth.

I will give you glory and honor with my actions.

Dear Lord,

I love you, and I want to glorify you.

I want to follow you in every way.

Today, I will thank you for your blessings to me.

Today, my mind will think on godly, righteous things. 

And today, my mouth will sing praise to you.

Amen

Copyright 2014 Beth McLendon of Inspirational-Prayers.com

Psalm 95 King James Version (KJV)

 Psalm 95 reminds us

that it is God's will for us

to worship him and take him seriously.

O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.

5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.

6 O 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 ye will hear his voice,

8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

The worship was an excerpt from our 

Worship page

Check out our other Bible studies on our page called

Bible Devotions

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