HE MADE IT
Psalms 95: 1-7 NKJV
1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
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.
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.
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you will hear His voice:
One of my goals this year is to read the Book of Psalms twelve times. It’s not that much; you just have to stay with it. And when you have a stated goal, you look for opportunities to make it happen. One of the things I have noticed is how often the Psalms talk about God as the Creator. There is real wisdom in remembering that truth.
This Psalm starts with an exhortation to sing, shout joyfully, and come before God’s presence with thanksgiving. The Jews were not a stoic group of people. They were very expressive in their worship and as a people. When they were happy, they sang and shouted and danced. When they were sad, they wept loudly and tore their clothes. Here, they were encouraged to be joyful in God because. Then, starting in verse three, we see reasons listed to express our hearts before God.
Because He is the great God and the great King above all gods. There is no god like our God, no power like God’s power. He holds the deep places of the earth and the heights of the hills. The sea is His because He made it. And His hands formed the dry land. It is so easy to take our earth for granted. And by that, I am speaking of the fact that we are living on a created planet. Our beautiful world did not just happen. God made it. When we enjoy the mountains, God made them. When we marvel at the expanse of the oceans, God made them. If God had not created it, we would not be here.
Then, the verses shift to worshipping and bowing down before the Lord our Maker. What a great thing to praise God for. We exist because He made us. He is our God. And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. And for those of us who have received Jesus as our Lord, He is not only our Maker but our Heavenly Father. And we belong to Him. Paul wrote that we were not just created by God, but we were bought back by Him. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says that we are not our own. We were bought at a price. That price was paid by Jesus in His death on the cross. God made the mountains, the seas, and us. He is very worthy of our praise.
APPLICATION
Reminding ourselves that God made all we see, and God is our Creator is good from two aspects. The first is we owe Him our very existence. So that makes it totally reasonable to serve Him. The second is that reminding ourselves of all God has made helps us expand our thinking about Him. He is not small or weak or insignificant. He is the great King and above all powers, seen and unseen.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, thank You for the world You have made. Thank You for making me. You are my God, and I am Your people.