A Heart Of Worship | Winter 2022 Devotion
- Jessica Lane
- Dec 1, 2022
- 4 min read
"1 Oh come, let’s sing to Yahweh.
Let’s shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let’s come before his presence with thanksgiving.
Let’s extol him with songs!
3 For Yahweh is a great God,
a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth.
The heights of the mountains are also his.
5 The sea is his, and he made it.
His hands formed the dry land.
6 Oh come, let’s worship and bow down.
Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker,
7 for he is our God.
We are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep in his care.
Today, oh that you would hear his voice!
8 Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers tempted me,
tested me, and saw my work.
10 Forty long years I was grieved with that generation,
and said, 'It is a people that errs in their heart.
They have not known my ways.'
11 Therefore I swore in my wrath,
'They won’t enter into my rest.”
-Psalm 95
Worshiping is something we as humans are great at. It is something we were created to do after all. Unfortunately, living in a fallen state means our worship is often directed at things other than God. In a recent "Hike + Message" video, we briefly covered this topic and the importance of searching one's heart for anything that could be replacing God as the focus of worship. In this season's devotion, I'd like to continue that discussion by taking a look at Psalm 95. This Psalm is an excellent illustration of how we ought to approach God with our worship. For further study on this Psalm and its application to worship, I highly recommend reading the commentary from Bob Deffinbaugh and Bible.org's study "A Psalm For All Seasons." (links provided at the end)
The first five verses of Psalm 95 encompass praise and offering worship with hearts of gratitude and thanksgiving. The Psalmist follows the command to praise by recounting the awesome works of our Creator. WorshipingGod should not only cause us to give thanks, but think on the magnitude of His might and power as well. The Psalm continues in the next two verses (6-7) by shifting the focus from praise to posture. A command to obedience is issued as well as a reminder that God's people are under his care and guidance. In worshiping God, we submit ourselves to His authority with a posture of humility. We should eagerly await hearing His voice; much like sheep await the call of their shepherd.
In the last four verses, (8-11) the Psalm takes a serious tonal shift by providing the warning: "Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness" The Jewish audience of the Old Testament would be very familiar with this reference to Meribah and Massah. But for those of us who aren't as studied in our Bible, a bit more background is needed. As Dr. Chuck Missler used to say: "We need to do our homework" as not to miss the important lesson being shared by this reference. Meribah and Massah is a call back to two very similar events during the wilderness wanderings in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20. In Exodus 17, the Israelites
have moved on to camp near Rephidim, but when there is no water there they begin to grumble against Moses and even seek to kill him.
God commands Moses to strike the rock, and water pours forth from it. This incident recurs with the next generation. The assembly arrives in an area with no water and quarrels with Moses over the lack of provision. This time God commands Moses to speak to the rock to bring forth water. Instead, Moses addresses the people in anger and strikes the rock twice. The consequences on both Moses and the first generation is that they will not enter into the promised land. So, what does all this have to do with worship? The Psalmist is not simply describing two isolated events in Israel's history, but a much bigger problem in the hearts of all mankind. When we allow ourselves to become stubborn and stiff-necked, we miss out on what God wishes to teach us, blessings He has to bestow on us, and ultimately opportunities to grow in our relationship with Him. It is important that we guard our hearts against becoming hardened and heed the warning in verses 8-11, lest we grieve God in the same way. We are called to worship with all our heart, but a heart that is hardened is incapable of worshiping God with the gratitude and reverence He deserves.
Further Resources:
Thank you for reading! I hope revisiting this short devotion from the Winter 2022 Newsletter encouraged you today. I pray you guard your heart against being hardened, offering your full devotion and worship to God.
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