Psalm 95: Today

 

There are certain days that stand out. Some we celebrate, some we remember and probably a few that we would like to forget. No matter how much we might fight against it, each day is not the same, not only do they each bring different experiences, but each day has a different value. Some love their birthday, their wedding anniversary or a particular holiday like Christmas, Thanksgiving, or the 4th of July. For others, those same days can bring the pain of loss, the memory of what used to be or what never should have been. Each day is not the same and yet there is one day that is infinitely more valuable than every other day, today. 

The Bible has a lot to say about today. I grew up singing Psalm 118:24, “This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” II Corinthians 6:2 says, “Today is the day of salvation.” Joshua commanded Israel, “Choose this day whom you will serve . . .” Whether you quote from Proverbs, Matthew or James, the Scriptures make it clear that tomorrow is promised to no one, and so the day to focus on, to be obedient in, to make the most of is today. 

Psalm 95 seems subtle in its handling of the importance of today until you realize that the Holy Spirit was using it as a springboard from Exodus to Hebrews, from Israel to the Church, from Moses to you and to me. The psalm begins with a call to worship, “Oh come let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!” In two verses the author (we will find out in the book of Hebrews this psalm was written by David) calls us four times to an action of praise. If we wait for praise to be spontaneous, we will offer far less than God deserves or desires. Today is a day to give thanks, to offer praise and to make a joyful noise. Today’s praise is not about what the day holds but the One who holds the day. When our praise and thanks are tied to what is done and what we have received we fail to realize that our greatest reason for praise is not found in what God has done but in who God is. He has done great things but only because He is a great God. But this is where we sometimes trip, even when we do not see or understand the great things that God has done, He is still, today and always, the great God. 

This is what David pointed to in calling us to give praise and to make noise, “For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.” Let us listen closely to the songs we sing, whether the ones we sing together when we gather or the ones we sing when we are all alone, are they songs that focus on what God has done, what we want God to do, how God makes us feel or who God is? There is a place for each of those songs, but the first song, the song that leads to every other song must be our song that praises the character of the great God and great King. One of my favorite statements about God in Scripture is repeated over and over again, “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” That one line is found in I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra, Jeremiah and at least six different psalms. This has become my song not just every day but each day, it is today’s song. 

Jesus said, in Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” The Berean Study Bible says it this way, “Today has enough trouble of its own.” This takes us back to the beginning of Psalm 95; do we give praise once we see what the day holds or have we determined that each day will hold our praise? Have we decided to give praise? Praise must be more than a feeling that erupts from time to time, it deserves to be a decision that we make at all times because no matter what happens in the day, the LORD is good and His mercy, His steadfast love endures forever. 

David continued with another call, this time from praise to worship, “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!” Praise is the lifting of our hearts to God, worship is the bending of our hearts before God, the first responds to His greatness, the second basks in His goodness. John Stott wrote that God is “far above us in his greatness, he is yet close to us in his goodness.” I sing praise to the Creator of all things, but I give worship to the One who knows the number of hairs upon my head. David described the heart, possibly the reason for worship this way, “For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” He owns everything and yet cares for me. He knows all things and chooses to listen to me. He is high and lifted up, His train fills the temple and yet He has sent His Holy Spirit to live within my heart. I shout to the great God and I bow down to my heavenly Father. Michael Wilcock said, “We kneel, we are brought low, we are humbled by the realization that the God who made the universe cares about us.” 

There is a crescendo in this psalm. We give praise and we offer worship, but then we must deal with the purpose and the plan of today. “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts . . .” Today God will speak, and we must listen, He will call, and we must answer, He will move, and we must join Him. Our shouts of praise and our songs of worship are meant to prepare our hearts for obedience. 

David took us back to the book of Exodus and the generation that God brought out of Egypt with this call to “hear” God’s voice. He sternly warns us, “Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.” God had brought Israel out of Egypt and they sang songs of praise, but then when the army of Egypt chased after them, they feared they would die. God took Israel through the Red Sea and then closed it on their enemies and Israel danced and sang, they praised and worshipped, but then three days later they ran out of water and complained. God sent bread from heaven to feed Israel with something they had never been seen before, but when they ran out of water again, while they still had manna in their mouths, they threatened to kill Moses for bringing them to a place where they thought they might die of thirst. They praised God when He moved, but when there was no movement, they had no praise. They worshipped God when He provided, but when they found themselves in need they reacted as if they had no Provider. Their praise and their worship did not change their hearts, it was simply a response to their circumstances. 

The author of Hebrews quoted Psalm 95 three different times, “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts . . .”. Today is a day to praise and today is a day to worship but more than anything else today is and today will always be a day to hear, to listen and to obey. Neither one of us knows what today will hold but we can be sure of this, God has made it, God is in it, and God has given it to us. What will we do with today? The generation that sang when things were good and complained when things were bad never received their reward. They gave control of their hearts to the events of the day never realizing that God was ordering the events of the day so that they would learn to trust Him with their hearts. Today is our day, it has been given to us by God, He is with us, and He is for us. The question that matters is, have we given today back to Him? Have we chosen to praise, have we decided to worship, have we committed ourselves to obedience? Today is the only day that matters and the only thing that matters today is that we trust God’s love, we hear His voice, and we obey His Word.