WORSHIP: HANDS AND HEARTS
Opening Prayer
I come to you, loving Father, with thanksgiving and praise. You withhold nothing from me that is for my good and there is nothing that can stand against you as I live for you.
Read PSALM 95
Psalm 95
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
3 For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
7 for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
Today, if only you would hear his voice,
8 “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,[a]
as you did that day at Massah[b] in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
10 For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’”
Footnotes
- Psalm 95:8 Meribah means quarreling.
- Psalm 95:8 Massah means testing.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Look at your hands and imagine God holding you in his. What thoughts and emotions surface that you can offer him?Psalm 95 greets us with a riot of joyful song, thanksgiving, and praise as we respond to the invitation to enter God’s presence. I wonder how often we recognize worship—however it is expressed in our lives—as an invitation from God to enjoy his presence. As the psalm unfolds, we discover a clear focus: the God who is both Maker and Majesty, Creator, and King. His unchanging and everlasting worth is the first, foremost, and forever foundation for our worship (vv. 3–5). If that weren’t enough, the psalmist reminds us that these heavenly hands that constructed worlds also cradle us. The One who made and owns us has also made himself ours, and this wonder both welcomes us into his heart and wells up within our own, overflowing as worship (vv. 6, 7).
His hands, our hearts: these are the places where true worship is forged. His hands are worthy. Are our hearts willing? From the place where our desires, emotions, reason, and will converge, we can choose between straying and striving or his paths and peace. Walking in his ways begins in wonder, is led by listening, and ends in entering his rest—enjoying his presence eternally, both here and hereafter. What a breath-taking panorama of worship!
Apply
Where might there be areas in your life where you are not trusting God to work, where you need to better align your walk with his will?
Closing prayer
Lord God, you are worthy of all my worship. Please work in me a heart that is willing to walk in your ways—from here to eternity.
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