I think anyone would rightly question a person’s sanity if they witnessed that person singing to a rock. I know the stay-at-home order has driven some people “stir crazy” as they say, but singing to a rock? Well, that’s what God’s people are called to do in Psalm 95. In fact, this psalm starts out on a very positive note but ends on a very somber tone. It seems as if the symphonic climax or crescendo comes at the beginning instead of at the end, as in most orchestral scores. So, perhaps this psalm is more a call to worship than anything else. Here God’s people are called to come and sing and “make a joyful noise” (which is sometimes the only thing some of God’s people can do! Just saying!). We joyfully do so “to the ROCK of our salvation!” (1). We are called to “come into his presence with thanksgiving” and “make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!” (2). (I’m glad God doesn’t mind “noisy” singing, as long as it comes from the heart.) Why should we sing with such gusto? Because “the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods” (3), and he’s the Creator & sustainer of everything he has made (4-5). Yes, this calls us to worship humbly before him by bowing down & kneeling before the One who also made us (6). We need to learn our place in God’s creation. HE is God, and we are not. We are his people, his sheep. Sometimes, I get that order turned around, like Israel did in the wilderness where they hardened their hearts & put Yahweh to the test, despite witnessing his incredible work of delivering them from Egypt (8-9). Their rebellion & unbelief manifested in murmuring & complaining & challenging Moses’s leadership. (You can read about it in Exodus 17:1-7.) There they put Yahweh to the test saying, “Is Yahweh among us or not?” I’m sure we all wonder at times where God is in our lives, but their complaint came from their willful unbelief. Such hardness of heart could only result in the unthinkable – that God “loathed that generation” (10). And in his righteous wrath, God forbid that generation from entering the promised land (his “rest”) (11). So, what’s the takeaway for me? I, too, am susceptible to the same problem as ancient Israel – going astray in my heart (10b). I need to “keep [my] heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23). I will regulate my heart with regular doses of the greatness of God and the ROCK from whom the waters of salvation flow. I will humble myself by singing HIS praises, not my own, and by daily giving thanks for his abundant mercies & grace to me every day.
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