A Call to Worship and Obedience
“Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. 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: “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me; they tried Me, though they saw My work. 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.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
“Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.” Why would anybody refer to God as “the Rock of our salvation?” Israel is full of rocks-big ones, little ones, and massifs such as the one on which Herod built the fortress of Masada. For the writer of this psalm, nothing could promise more secure protection than a fortress made out of sold rock.
“ For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land.” Why does the psalmist call God “the great God and the great King above all gods?” Remember that the psalmist lives in a culture where some people worship multiple gods. In Deuteronomy 6:4 God tells His people that “the Lord Your God is One.” The Lord God is the Only True Living God; however, there are many imposter deities vying for people’s attention. But none of these demons has created anything while God holds the deep places of the earth, the hills, the sea, and all living creatures in His hands.
“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.” What do these phrases mean? For shepherds, the sheep of their pastures are their sheep, not just some strange animals that have blundered in somehow. The shepherd is so dedicated to the sheep that he cares for their every need and protects them by sleeping in the opening to the sheep fold so that anything dangerous must attack him first. Why should we kneel? Kneeling is a form of respect and an act of worship. When we kneel, we are bowing to the Almighty God who has created us and preserved us. When we refuse to kneel, we are refusing to worship and effectively telling God that we value our own opinion more than we do His commands.
“Today, if you will hear His voice: “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me; they tried Me, though they saw My work. 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.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ” These verses refer to the rebellion of the Israelites in the wilderness. When ten of the spies sent into Canaan brought back frightening tales of giants, the Israelites panicked, rather than heeding Caleb and Joshua. Caleb and Joshua’s message was simple: “Certainly there are giants, but our God can easily defeat them!” The faithless rebels died in the wilderness, never setting foot in the Promised Land.
APPLICATION: No matter when we live or where we live, there will always be giant problems, many of them far worse than twelve-foot-high warriors with huge weapons. Health catastrophes, accidents, business failures, pandemics, or even war-the list is endless. The Israelites who were poised on the border of the Promised Land had a choice: trust God and go in immediately, or rebel and die in the wilderness. Sadly, they rebelled and died as a result.
Each of us faces similar choices. Nobody has a stress-free life. Either we act in faith, trusting God and moving into the future He has for us, or we rebel, allowing fear to dictate to us. This afternoon I just watched a short video from a fellow missionary, a young man working with a remote tribe in Peru. This young man has spent much of his time this year riding in canoes on jungle rivers and helping the tribe record scriptures in their local language. Transportation in our friend’s area is very primitive and he must depend on any motorized vehicle available. Sickness from contaminated food and water are always a possibility. But our friend trusts God and God is using him to open up an entire area to the Gospel.
As we end 2023, ask God what He wants to do with you in 2024. But be ready for surpasses; you might have a twelve-foot giant in your future! And when that giant appears, God already has a plan. Remember what Martin Luther once said, “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to trust You and to worship You, no matter what happens. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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