Psalm 96:1-6 “Sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD! Bless his name! Proclaim his salvation from day to day! Declare his glory amongst the nations, his marvelous works amongst all the peoples. For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised! He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before him. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.”

Does anything more need to be said? Perhaps this: “In him are combined all that is mighty and lovely, powerful and resplendent. We have seen rugged strength devoid of beauty, we have also seen elegance without strength; the union of the two is greatly to be admired.” (Treasury of David, Spurgeon, Volume 4, 182)

For additional worship: Jesus Saves (We Have Heard The Joyful Sound)

Psalm 95:6-11 “Oh come, let’s worship and bow down. Let’s kneel before the LORD, our Maker, 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! Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, tested me, and saw my work. Forty long years I was grieved with that generation, and said, ‘They are a people who err in their heart. They have not known my ways.’ Therefore I swore in my wrath, ‘They won’t enter into my rest.’ ”

What a description: we are the people of His pasture and the sheep in His care. Knowing His care of us, why wouldn’t we listen to Him? Massah and Meribah can be translated as “quarreling” and “testing.” There were multiple times when the Israelites accused God of not caring for them, and that generation (and Moses!) ended up paying the price. We are warned: don’t be like they were!

Hebrews 3:7-13 “Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of the trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested me and tried me, and saw my deeds for forty years. Therefore I was displeased with that generation, and said, ‘They always err in their heart, but they didn’t know my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter into my rest.’ ” Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called ‘today’, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

For additional worship: Let All Things Now Living (Michael Card)

Psalm 95:1-5 “Oh come, let’s sing to the LORD. Let’s shout aloud to the rock of our salvation! Let’s come before his presence with thanksgiving. Let’s extol him with songs! For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth. The heights of the mountains are also his. The sea is his, and he made it. His hands formed the dry land.”

Sing to God! Sing to Him because He made us! Sing to Him because He made this world that we live in! Sing to Him because He is great and mighty, and no-one is greater than He is!

For additional worship: Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above

Psalm 94:16-23 “Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will stand up for me against the evildoers? Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul would have soon lived in silence. When I said, ‘My foot is slipping!’ Your loving kindness, LORD, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts within me, your comforts delight my soul. Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with you, which brings about mischief by statute? They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. But the LORD has been my high tower, my God, the rock of my refuge. He has brought on them their own iniquity, and will cut them off in their own wickedness. The LORD, our God, will cut them off.”

Why should we trust God? Because of what Jesus did on the cross. We were sliding into hell, and the Lord held us up! He continues to be our high tower and rock of refuge in this life. We have the guarantee of His love, His Spirit, His hope, and His faithfulness now, as well as the guarantee of an eternity with Him. The wicked will face a much different future.

For additional worship: Dear Refuge Of My Weary Soul (Indelible Grace)

Psalm 94:8-15 “Consider, you senseless amongst the people; you fools, when will you be wise? He who implanted the ear, won’t he hear? He who formed the eye, won’t he see? He who disciplines the nations, won’t he punish? He who teaches man knows. The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile. Blessed is the man whom you discipline, LORD, and teach out of your law, that you may give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for the wicked. For the LORD won’t reject his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. For judgement will return to righteousness. All the upright in heart shall follow it.”

God knows us. He knows that we’re dull of eyes and dull of heart. He knows that our thoughts are futile. If we’re unwilling to learn the easy way, He teaches us the hard way: through adversity. That’s actually a blessing! Because we’re His we can trust that He’ll preserve us and judge the wicked. God’s faithfulness should encourage us to follow Him!

1 Corinthians 3:18-20 “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise amongst you in this world, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, ‘He has taken the wise in their craftiness.’ And again, ‘The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is worthless.’ ”

For additional worship: Will You Not Listen? (Michael Card)

Psalm 94:1-7 “LORD, you God to whom vengeance belongs, you God to whom vengeance belongs, shine out. Rise up, you judge of the earth. Pay back the proud what they deserve. LORD, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph? They pour out arrogant words. All the evildoers boast. They break your people in pieces, LORD, and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the alien, and murder the fatherless. They say, “The LORD will not see, neither will Jacob’s God consider.”

This is a cry for God to avenge His people and punish the wicked. The wicked are seen as especially heinous, not just because of what they do, but because they don’t believe in Israel’s God or that there will be any punishment for their actions.

There is an important reminder here that we aren’t to take vengeance into our own hands. God has given us our government and Himself to rely on for justice!

Romans 13:3-4 “For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the authority, for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn’t bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil.”

Romans 12:19 “Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, ‘Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay,’ says the Lord.”

For additional worship: O Lord, Thou Judge of All the Earth

Psalm 93:1-5 “The LORD reigns! He is clothed with majesty! The LORD is armed with strength. The world also is established. It can’t be moved. Your throne is established from long ago. You are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves. Above the voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty. Your statutes stand firm. Holiness adorns your house, LORD, forever more.”

Why sing praises to the Lord? Because He is sovereign, majestic, strong, mighty, holy and eternal. Even the chaos of the storm and the flood are nothing compared to Him. He created the universe and His plans for it are assured. He is in control, and worthy to be praised!

Revelation 4:11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, the Holy One, to receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all things, and because of your desire they existed and were created!”

For additional worship: Worthy of Worship (Lifeway Traditional)

Psalm 92:8-15 “But you, LORD, are on high forever more. For behold, your enemies, LORD, for behold, your enemies shall perish. All the evildoers will be scattered. But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox. I am anointed with fresh oil. My eye has also seen my enemies. My ears have heard of the wicked enemies who rise up against me. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the LORD’s house. They will flourish in our God’s courts. They will still produce fruit in old age. They will be full of sap and green, to show that the LORD is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.”

The temporal victory expected here foreshadows our ultimate victory later!

Revelation 19:1-9 “After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, ‘Hallelujah! Salvation, power, and glory belong to our God; for his judgements are true and righteous. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and he has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.’ A second said, ‘Hallelujah! Her smoke goes up forever and ever.’ The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God who sits on the throne, saying, ‘Amen! Hallelujah!’ A voice came from the throne, saying, ‘Give praise to our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, the small and the great!’ I heard something like the voice of a great multitude, and like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of mighty thunders, saying, ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns! Let’s rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let’s give the glory to him. For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.’ It was given to her that she would array herself in bright, pure, fine linen, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. He said to me, ‘Write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.” ‘ He said to me, ‘These are true words of God.’ ”

For additional worship: Children of the Heavenly Father (Steve Green)

Psalm 92:1-7 “A Psalm. A song for the Sabbath day. It is a good thing to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, Most High, to proclaim your loving kindness in the morning, and your faithfulness every night, with the ten-stringed lute, with the harp, and with the melody of the lyre. For you, LORD, have made me glad through your work. I will triumph in the works of your hands. How great are your works, LORD! Your thoughts are very deep. A senseless man doesn’t know, neither does a fool understand this: though the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.”

Morning and evening is a way of encompassing the whole. We are to praise and give thanks constantly, with both our voices and our instruments. We give thanks because of the work that He has done through creation and salvation, because of His omnipotence and omniscience, and because we’re not fools!

Hebrews 13:15 “Through him, then, let’s offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his name.”

For additional worship: Come Thou Fount (Official Music Video) | Celtic Worship.

Psalm 91:9-16 “Because you have made the LORD your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place, no evil shall happen to you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling. For he will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, so that you won’t dash your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot. “Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high, because he has known my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him. I will satisfy him with long life, and show him my salvation.”

Making the Lord your refuge means that you will be generally safer in this life, and certainly safer in the life to come! Take the book of Proverbs for instance. Proverbs gives us probabilities. If we listen to what it says, then we’ll live better lives because we stay out of a lot of trouble. That’s what following God does. Following God doesn’t mean that we’ll never have trouble; just that we’ll stay away from much of it! And we trust that God will also watch out for us because of our desire to serve Him. The absolute blessedness described here will happen in the new heavens and the new earth:

Isaiah 11:1-9 “A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit. The LORD’s Spirit will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. His delight will be in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears; but he will judge the poor with righteousness, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked. Righteousness will be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them. The cow and the bear will graze. Their young ones will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

I would suggest that this passage engages in the rhetoric device of hyperbole: it exaggerates to make a point. The point being that following God is safer than not following God! Jesus even warns about the dangers of misunderstanding this passage:

Matthew 4:5-7 “Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you,” and, “On their hands they will bear you up, so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.” ‘ Jesus said to him, ‘Again, it is written, “You shall not test the Lord, your God.” ’ ”

Putting ourselves in harm’s way simply because we think that God will keep us safe is not a correct reading of Scripture. In fact, we’re sometimes reminded that following God can bring trouble because of the hatred of the world around us.

John 15:18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.”

One absolute spiritual truth that should comfort us from this passage is the fact that once we are God’s, we are His forever! He guards us and keeps us in the palm of His hand.

John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”

For additional worship: On Eagle’s Wings (Michael Joncas)