Psalms

This Psalm may have been written by the Psalmist to be sung at the Feast of Booths. Some believe it may have been David, others believe it may have been written when the exiles returned to Judah from Babylon.  Either way, it is believed this Psalm commemorates the feast.  During the Feast of Booths the people remembered the wilderness wandering and God's provision during that time.  They gave thanks to Him for His marvelous works. 

A Call to Worship and Obedience

¹ Oh come, let us sing to the LORD!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
The Psalmist establishes this as a Psalm of praise.  We need to sing to the Lord and he's going to continue on and tell us how and why.  When are the times when you most feel like singing to the Lord?  Is it when you are in the wilderness?  If singing to the Lord and praising Him isn't a pattern of your life, how hard will it be to learn that while you are in the wilderness?

The Rock of salvation brings to mind the unchanging and solid nature of God.  God is immovable, holy and just and we can find protection and preservation at this Rock.  This picture of the Rock of salvation had special meaning to those people in the wilderness because of the water that came from the Rock in the wilderness.  See Exodus 17:17:1-7; Numbers 20:1-13; 1 Corinthians 10:4.  

² Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
³ For the LORD is the great God,
And the great King above all gods.
He is The King of Kings and the God of all gods.  This is another way of saying that there are no other gods.  He alone is the place of refuge and worthy of all praise.  He alone can see us through the wilderness.  We should come to Him alone with all our thanksgiving.  For every provision and blessing in life; for every heartbeat and every breath.  "Let us come" in verse 2 means we are to go meet God face to face.

⁴ In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
The heights of the hills are His also.
⁵ The sea is His, for He made it;
And His hands formed the dry land.
There is no place you can go to escape God.  If you go to the depths, He is there.  If you go to the hills, He is there.  He is the God of the sea and the dry land because he made it.  Many of the false gods that were worshiped by the gentiles were imaginary gods that had limited power.  They had a god for the seas, one for the land, one for the air, one in the hills and one in the valleys.  They wore themselves out trying to appease and please gods that didn't exist.  Israel testified of the Living God that was God over all.

⁶ Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
Bowing down and kneeling were acts of submission.  We come humbly to Him and bow down, we submit to Him and then tell Him why He is worthy of all praise.  We acknowledge Him as our maker.  He is the potter and we are the clay.

⁷ For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.
Sheep are dumb, they need a shepherd.  They wander away and at times can even forget to eat.  That's us.  We forget to eat of the spiritual food that is available to us.  Then when we do, we forget to thank Him for it.  He is our God and we must be constantly reminded of it.  We are the people of His pasture.  It's His pasture, not ours.  It all belongs to Him. 

Today, if you will hear His voice:
⁸ "Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,

As in the day of trial in the wilderness,

In verse 8, the word rebellion is actually Meribah.  This was the place of rebellion when the people showed their lack of faith.  They accused the Lord of bringing them to that place to see them die without water.

⁹ When your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they saw My work.
Think of all these people saw.  They saw the plagues; they saw a Pharaoh and his army brought low.  They saw millions march out of Egypt on their way to the Promised Land.  Yet, they soon they forgot.  They lost their faith and tested the Lord. 

We look at this and say, wow, they weren't very faithful.  Yet, how many times have we felt abandoned by the Lord when things got bad in our life?  How many times have we been in our own sort of wilderness and lost faith that the Lord was still with us?  Even in the wilderness God is working.  Even when we can't see or feel His presence, He is there, sovereign, holy and on the throne.  Do we trust Him?

¹⁰ 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.'
¹¹ So I swore in My wrath,
'They shall not enter My rest.' "

Why was God grieved?  Was it not because by nature He is Holy and Just and had to punish his people?  He wanted them to bring them to the Promised Land and lavish them with His love and blessings.  Yet, their hearts had gone astray.  They didn't know His ways.  What are God's ways?  When He looks at us does he see a person with a broken and contrite heart?  Are we brokenhearted over our sin?  Have we turned away and trusted in Him? 

Many a men are delivered from their bondage in the prevenient grace of the Lord.  God is working in the life of each person long before they know it.  He made a way for each of us to be relieved of our burden and delivered from our bondage.  How sad it must be to Him when we fail to cross over into the Promised Land and instead wander around the wilderness not trusting Him.  God's wrath is just.  He will not allow those who have gone astray to enter his rest.  Many men and women died in the wilderness that saw amazing works of God.  Many people today die while wandering the wilderness in their pride and sin. 

Verses 7b-11 were quoted in Hebrews 3:7-11. 

The pattern of worship:

• Singing for the joy of the Lord
• Come before him with thanksgiving
• We should bow down in worship
• Kneel before our maker
• Hear and Obey our Lord