95:1-4Songs, shouts, gratitude, and praise erupted from those gathered to worship the LORD. While there are certainly many examples of stillness and silence in God’s presence taught and illustrated in Scripture, there are equally as many examples of raucous worship. Both peaceful silence and enthusiastic praise are appropriate expressions of worship to our great God.
Life Application Study BiblePsalmsChapter 95
Psalm 95
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 944, 945
A few verse numbers on this page were hard to read in the scan and are marked with a dotted underline — compare with the original page image if in doubt.
95Psalm 95
1Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
2Let us come to him with thanksgiving.Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
3For the LORD is a great God,a great King above all gods.
4He holds in his hands the depths of the earthand the mightiest mountains.
5The sea belongs to him, for he made it.His hands formed the dry land, too.
6Come, let us worship and bow down.Let us kneel before the LORD our maker,7 — for he is our God.Weare the people he watches over,the flock under his care.
If only you would listen to his voice today!
8The LORD says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah,as they did at Massah in the wilderness.
9For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience,even though they saw everything I did.
10For forty years I was angry with them, and I said,‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me.They refuse to do what I tell them.’
11So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’” Theme: How to praise God. We can sing about him, tell others about him, worship him, give him glory, bring offerings to him, and live holy lives. Author: Possibly David because this psalm closely resembles David’s hymn of praise in 1 Chronicles 16:23-36 9 6 1Sing a new song to the LORD!
Life Application Notes 4 notes
95:8A hardened heart is as useless as a hardened Jump of clay or a hardened loaf of bread. Nothing can restore it and make it useful. The writer warns against hardening our hearts as tsrael did in the wilderness by continuing to resist God’s will (Exodus 17:7). The Israelites had been so convinced that God couldn't deliver them that they simply lost their faith in him. When people become so stubbornly set in their ways that their hearts are hardened, they find it impossible to turn to God. This does not happen ail at once; it is the result of a series of choices to disregard God's will. If you resist God long enough, God may toss you aside like hardened bread, useless and worthless.
95:8Meribah means “arguing,” and Massah means “testing.” These refer to the incident at Rephidim (Exodus 17:1-7) when the Israelites complained to Moses because they had no water (see also Numbers 20:1-13).
95:11What keeps us from God’s ultimate blessings (entering his “place of rest”)? Ungrateful hearts (95:2), not worshiping or submitting to him (95:6), hardening our hearts (95:8), trying God's patience because of stubborn doubts (95:9). In Hebrews 4:5-11, we are warned not to harden our hearts, but to reject the glamour of sin and anything else that would lead us away from God.
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Study feature · page 945
JUSTICE IN THE BOOK OF PSALMS
Justice is a major theme in Psalms. The psalm writers praise God because he is just; they plead for him to intervene and bring justice where there is oppression and wickedness; they condemn the wicked who trust in their wealth; they extol the righteous who are just toward their neighbors. Justice in Psalms is more than honesty. It is active intervention on behalf of the helpless, especially the poor. The psalm writers do not merely wish the poor could be given what they need, but they plead with God to destroy those nations that are subverting justice and oppressing God’s people. Here are some examples of psalms that speak about justice. As you read them, ask yourself, Who is my neighbor? Does my life-style—my work, my play, my buying habits, my giving—help or hurt people who have less than I do? What one thing could I do this week to help a helpless person? Selected psalms that emphasize this theme are 7; 9; 15; 37; 50; 72; 75; 82; 94; 145.