January 16th

Psalm 95

Songs and Silence

Our psalm pictures a group of villagers who have come up to Jerusalem on pilgrimage.  They are excited and expectant as they see the Temple and are met at the gate by a priest. 

¹ O come, let us sing to the Lord;
   let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
² Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
   let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

The priest goes on to tell the pilgrims the reasons for such adoration:

³ For the Lord is a great God,
   and a great King above all gods.
⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth;
   the heights of the mountains are his also.
⁵ The sea is his, for he made it,
   and the dry land, which his hands have formed.

And then he reminds them that this God, the great King and Creator, is also tenderly inclined towards them:

⁷ For he is our God,
   and we are the people of his pasture,
   and the flock under his care. 

These verses call the pilgrims to rousing worship, more like the cheers at a football stadium than our sometimes too tame singing in our church sanctuaries. 

Our worship recognizes that God is ‘our God’ and we are under his tender care.  But then comes the plea, ‘O that today you would listen to God’s voice’ (v.7)!  In the OT to hear rightly always means that we have also obeyed, that is, acted in accord with the will and purposes of God – practicing justice and love of neighbour.  Listening without acting is merely passing time, inauthentic worship.

Verses 8-11 counsel us to truly listen as God speaks.  The references here are to the Exodus event.  Do you remember after YAHWEH delivered the Israelites from Pharoah’s army at the Red Sea?  In response they worshipped with song:

20 Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. ²¹And Miriam sang to them:
‘Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.’   (Exodus 15)

But just two chapters later Israel’s enthusiasm has evaporated and the people grumble:  The people even ask, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’  (Ex. 17.7).   Our psalmist says, ‘do not repeat that mistake.’

What people owe their King (God) is praise and obedience – ‘to heed His voice.’   

Two points stand out for me in reflecting on this psalm:  First – it is significant that the call to decision happens in worship.  In worship we profess who is sovereign, and we acknowledge the reality of God’s claim on our lives.  Worship really is a ‘service’ in the sense that we act out our servanthood, our submission to the God whom we profess rules the world and our lives.  Worship is a matter of word and deed (see Matt. 7.21):

21 ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 

Second, today (January 15) is the birthdate of Martin Luther King.  In the United States they honour King with a national holiday on the third Monday of January.  But as one writer points out:  ‘While we honour Dr. King with all Americans, we also remember that the Sunday he intended to preach the Sunday after his assassination was titled ‘Why America May Go To Hell.’   [1]

Our psalm reminds us that the church has a prophetic role in our society to be the voice of conscience both to those in power and to those of us who sit in pews each Sunday. 

We sing and we are silent as we are attentive to God’s voice.  This is at the heart of our worship.