Psalm 95

Read Psalm 95 ESV

Who - An unnamed psalmist speaks to the people gathered for worship.  

What - A psalm of thanksgiving and a call to obey the LORD.  This psalm is a psalm for corporate worship, though it could be for any size group or even an individual.  

When - Unknown 

Where - Unknown

Why - The psalmist is calling the people to come and worship the LORD, to sing and delight in the LORD because he is a great God and King.  And also because those gathered in worship are His people.  The psalmist warns the people not to be unfaithful like their forefathers at Meribah and Massah, primarily not to go astray in their hearts.  

How - The psalmist opens with the call to sing and make a joyful noise to the LORD who is their rock and salvation.  This is a play on words as the psalmist brings up the water from the rock at Meribah in verses 7-11.  There the LORD saved (salvation) his people by providing water from the rock.  (Exodus 17:1-7)  The people are to enter into the LORD’S presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise.  The psalmist ends this stanza with the basis for praise and worship:  the LORD is a great God and King.  He made the earth, the mountains and the sea.  The LORD is the creator and sustainer of His creation.  

The second (and final) stanza again calls the people to worship the LORD, because they are the people of His pasture and His flock.  Then a shift occurs.  The opening line of this shift is an interesting if-then statement.  “If you hear his voice,” the psalmist is challenging the hearers about whose voice they are listening to:  if the LORD, then do not repeat the sins of their forefathers like at Meribah and Massah.  Their sin was to not trust and believe in the LORD’S promises for them when things were tough.  They had been delivered from Egypt in powerful plagues, escaped the Egyptian army through a parted Red Sea, and just been given manna to eat out in the middle of nowhere from nothing, yet now because they had gone without water for some time, they quarreled with the LORD and accused him of bringing them into the wilderness to die.  What is the connection between that loathsome generation and the hearers of this psalm?  With no historical context within the psalm to guide us, all we can say is at this moment the temptation was to lose faith in the LORD’S promises or doubt His power and ability to deliver or His willingness to deliver, or both.  That generation did not love the LORD with all their heart, all their soul, all their mind nor all their strength.  Don't be that guy!  If you do love the LORD, you will praise and make a joyful noise to Him.  

The last stanza (vs 7-11) are quoted in Hebrews 3:7-11.  There the author of Hebrews is saying the Jewish Christians’ temptation to abandon Christianity and return to Judaism is equal to the temptation of the generation in the wilderness.  To give into that temptation and return to Judaism is to no longer trust in and believe the promises of Christ.  

So What 

1. Don't be that guy!  Don't be the person who doubts the LORD’S promises of your deliverance because you are “thirsty.”  Look at all the amazing miracles the LORD has done to bring you to this point:  Christ's death and resurrection applied to our souls and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit so we are in intimate fellowship with the Trinity!  In my case He called me to a ministry and equipped me for it with amazing provisions along the way.  Do not doubt his promises now.  Trust and obey.  Continue loving him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  
2. The call by the psalmist and by the author of Hebrews to not doubt God and be tempted to go back to old religions is not just a call for Jews.  The temptation to give-up and go back to former religions and belief systems is one all Christians face, because all Christians had a former belief system before their conversion.  (Even the person who grew-up going to church and came to faith at an early age had some belief system before their conversion, usually a works based salvation.)  
3. Because we love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength sing and worship the LORD.  Praise Jesus, the author of our salvation.  Come into his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise because he is our creator and sustainer.  
4. Take joy and delight at being able to come into God's presence through Christ’s work on the cross.  We can take delight and joy because we have confidence we can enter into His presence (Heb 4:16).  
5. Take joy and delight at being His people, the people of God.  We are His people, the flock of His pasture.  We can have joy and delight at knowing He has called us into His family and adopted us as His own children.  We also have Christ as our shepherd.