Psalm 95:3-7 - September 27, 2009

Ps 95:3-7 "For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; 7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care." NIV

Psalm 95:3-7 is a call to worship the Lord in humility. The first step of true worship is to recognize our need to worship. Psalm 95:6 compels us to bow down before the Lord in worship. It is a reminder of who He is in contrast to who we are. “The Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods… Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” What powerful images are conveyed in that simple passage as we hear the call to bow before the Lord! Worship is an acknowledgement of His right to rule over us. When we bow before the Lord we are acknowledging His supremacy over our lives and our desires. When we humble ourselves before Him we are giving Him permission to direct our steps by acknowledging our position as those under His rule, His government. To worship is to yield! To worship is to surrender!
This passage develops the justification for this relationship and its context of submission. The Lord is the great God, the creator of all things, our Maker. We are submitted to Him and worship Him because we are the created He is the creator! Both the Prophets and the Apostle Paul develop this theme with strong images of our dependence upon the creator. Isa 64:8 identifies the reality that we have nothing in and of ourselves. We are children of the Father, the master potter and the works of His hands: “Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” In Rom 9:20-21 the Apostle Paul completes the implications of this concept by stating: “But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?" 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?” The primary principle in this concept is found in verse 21 where Paul emphasizes the question “Doesn’t the potter have the right to make whatever He chooses out of the clay that He has in His hands?”
As we worship the Lord the context of His sovereignty is not left merely in the hands of His dominion and His rights over us. The great news found in this passage is that the Lord does not merely rule over us as a master does a slave or as a stern King who exercises His power over His subjects. The principle that changes the nature of our worship from a fearful surrender to a powerful sovereign to the worship of joyful surrender is seen in the language of verse 7. God chooses to reveal Himself not as an angry Lord but as a shepherd King! Everything about this Shepherd King is a demonstration of His goodness and mercy. Consider the language God uses in this passage to describe our relationship with Him; “we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.” God has placed us lovingly in the green pastures of His creation and cares over us like a good shepherd. The knowledge of this place of protection and provision makes our relationship with God a privileged relationship and this establishes a different atmosphere for our approach to God in worship. Yes we surrender, yes we yield, yes we worship, but we worship a loving creator not an angry God. Yes we reverence, yes we acknowledge His strength and power, His dominion over us, but we do so in the context of children to their Father not in a context of strangers to a distant God. Come before the Lord in worship, but come boldly before His throne of grace with a heart of thanksgiving and a song of joy as He. 4:16 invites us to do.