Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!1
How can we even rejoice amidst our seemingly insurmountable problems and the successive calamities—disastrous earthquakes, deadly typhoons, sickness, poverty, corruption? The problems are endless!
In context, Psalm 95 was among the many books of Psalm authored by David. A man anointed and indwelt by the Spirit from his youth;2 as a shepherd boy, killing bears and lions with his bare hands to protect his father’s sheep;3 endowed with courage to face Goliath and defeat him.4 David knew his God experientially—a faithful God.5 Generally, through the Levitical singers (such as Asaph), David likewise knew how God rescued Israel from Pharaoh; how God provided for them in the wilderness; and how God fought for them as they entered the promised land.6 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.7
Specifically, David kept the ways of the LORD; all his rules and statutes were before him. Thus, God delighted in him.8 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.9 Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.10 Recall how God had helped us; he would help again.
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”11
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.12
Notes:
1. Psalm 95:1-2
2. 1 Samuel 16:13
3. 1 Samuel 17:34-37
4. 1 Samuel 17:32, 36-37
5. Deuteronomy 7:9, Psalm 36:5
6. Psalm 78, 81, 105, 106, 136
7. Psalm 95:3-5
8. Psalm 18:19-22
9. Psalm 95:6-7a
10. Hebrews 13:8
11. Psalm 95:7b-11
12. John 17:1-5
