“Kneel Before the Lord Our Maker” (Ps 95)

“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand” (vs6-7)

Kneel, bow down, and obey your Maker, for He is God (vs1-7). He says, “bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker”. He hasn't created the world to have His worship go somewhere else. He is to be honored, feared, and loved as the Great God, the King, the only One in charge. He says, “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods.”

This worship is wisdom; it is obeying the commands, taking what God says seriously, for He warns of death if we don't.

Many have a god who commands nothing. He suggests only. Believers even think that His commands, in measure, are optional, but they are not. He says, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:18-20). His commands are BEST for us, and they must be obeyed, no matter what. The gospel isn't, “I can't, so I won't”, nor is it, “I'm saved by grace, so I don't have to. Thank God Christ did”. These are dreadful lies from Satan. The gospel is, “Christ died, so I can. He gives the Spirit, so I can obey Him as commanded”, and in this gospel, you'll have life and peace. He says, “and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt 28:20). Praise is non-optional! Worship is demanded.

Finally, unbelief will be punished (Ps 95:7-11). He says, “Today, if you will hear His voice; do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trail in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me; they tried Me, though they saw My work... So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter My rest”. God hasn't given us the gospel for no reason, raising Christ from the dead. He hasn't revealed substitution, the wisdom of God in redeeming sinners by His Son's blood, for nothing. He DEMANDS repentance and faith, or else. He says, “For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways” (vs10). He says, Believe My goodness or taste My fury, forever, and we believe Him.

I've been challenged to believe the gospel because I have no choice. I cannot say, “That's your opinion”, or, “It's great that others can obey”, but I must praise Him myself, overcoming wickedness by the power of Christ. It isn't a matter of what I want to do, but the COMMAND, coupled with the warning, means that I must LOOK to Christ to get it done.

Don't harden your heart! You can obey, serve God, and love. You and I can be holy because God is able. Believe it, or die in sin, accursed.