Psalm 95:1-7a (NRSV)
Read Psalm 95:1-7a on biblegateway.com
Verse 1O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Verse 2Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
Verse 3For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
Verse 4In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.
Verse 5The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
Verse 6O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
Verse 7For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice!
Devotion
Having lived in Canada, Germany and the United States, I have had the opportunity to celebrate three different Thanksgiving Festivals each year. During one that sticks out in my mind, the organ was playing majestically and the choir singing softly, "Now Thank We All Our God." Superimposed over this glorious music a narrator was reading these seven verses of Psalm 95. The response of the congregation after each verse was: "We Praise Thee O God."
The majestic words of the psalm and the hymn along with the moving music stirred within me the sense of awe and majesty. It was as though one would soon see royalty walking down the aisle as the King or Queen entered in all attending splendor.
The psalmist invites us to worship, bow down, kneel and experience the wonder and splendor of the majesty of God's kingship through the presence of the "humble servant king," Jesus the Christ.
Prayer
Gracious God, empower us by your Spirit to be your servants, sharing hope, strength and forgiving grace to a broken and fragile world. Amen.