A Meditation on Psalm 95
2 June 2015

I just read Psalm 95 and it stunned me. It stunned me for four reasons; the extent of God’s sovereignty, how tender God is, how severe God is, and the fact that it contains the very words of God himself. Before reading any further, you should stop and read the whole Psalm for yourself. It’s only eleven verses. Even if you are a slow reader, you can read it in less than three minutes. Read it now.

Did you read it? Were you too stunned? Let’s see if you saw what I did.

The psalmist begins with an invitation to sing praises to God, actually to Yahweh, the personal name of God. This is a very personal psalm. This is very personal invitation. Sing to him. “Sing praises to the rock of our salvation!” Referring to God in such a way invites readers to rejoice in the security of their souls which are safe in the mighty hand of the LORD. “For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.” All who trust in this mighty God will be forever safe. He is the only true God. In truth, he has no competition. There are no gods like him. There are no gods which can come close to him. No one can move this Rock in whom we hope.

He is sovereign over all things. “In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains also are his.” There is no place on earth to which his sovereign reign does not extend. He rules in the lowest places and he reigns in the highest places. He governs the dark saltwater depths of the Mariana Trench and he controls the blistering blasts at the peak of Everest. He owns this planet for “he made it, his hands formed it.”

His hands are tough enough to make the granite of New Hampshire, but yet tender enough to lead his hungry people into green pastures to satisfy their desires. He is our Maker, and yet he is also our Shepherd. “We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” This towering Shepherd gently guards “the sheep of his hand.” A shepherd leads and protects. He guides and guards. He is tough, but he tenderly holds his sheep safely in his powerful hands.

This great Shepherd lets his voice be heard. How sweet it is to hear his voice. A shepherd leads with this voice. He always calls to his sheep. Sometimes they listen, but other times they do not. The psalmist now offers his readers a warning. This Shepherd is sweet, but also severe. He reminds the reader that it does not go well for those who ignore the tender voice of this mighty Shepherd. He offers painful examples of hard-hearted rebellion. Such stubborn resistance can set into a soul like gangrene and result in decades of sinful faithlessness. The end of such persistently rebellious people is unimaginably sad.

At this point in the psalm, the psalmist’s voice is replaced by the voice of God himself (v.9). “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.’” He is a tender Shepherd, but he is tough toward those who refuse to obey him. He is sweet to those who surrender to his goodness, but he is severe with those who refuse him. He offers rest to those who humbly obey, but wrath awaits those who stubbornly rebel.

Oh, let this not be said of us. May we humble our hearts before the greatness of our awesome God. May we never resist such a royal Ruler. Let us sweetly submit to this Sovereign Savior. Put away all hardness of heart. Let go of sinful habits. He offers either rest or wrath. What will you have? Will you slight the sovereign LORD today or will you sing to this Rock?

“O come, let us sing to the Lord;
Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us enter into his presence with thanksgiving.”

Whether we find ourselves today in the depths of the earth or on the heights of the mountains, let us sing to the Rock!
TC