Psalms

Psalms 95: Hear the great King today

Begin in prayer

Before we join the call to sing and kneel before our Maker, let us ask for hearts that hear His voice. Pray that He would bring us to Jesus and turn us from the unbelief that refuses His Word.

“Yet I am Yahweh your God from the land of Egypt; and you shall acknowledge no god but me, and besides me there is no savior.

Hosea 13:4

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word, and help us to see Christ. Show us that our Creator and Shepherd calls His people to hear His voice and warns against hardened unbelief. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

The song gathers God's people into joyful praise, thanksgiving and songs before the rock of their salvation. He is the great King whose hand holds the depths and mountain heights, and whose making gives Him the sea and dry land. Praise then becomes bowed and kneeling worship before the Maker who tends them as His flock. The call to hear His voice today leads into a warning from the wilderness. Their fathers had seen His works yet tested Him at Meribah and Massah, grieving Him through forty years of wandering hearts. God swore in His wrath that this generation would not enter His rest.

As you read Psalms 95, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God the Creator shepherds His people and warns that hardened unbelief will keep them from His rest.

Calling the Lord salvation's rock gives the joyful gathering a stable refuge, while thanksgiving acknowledges the rescue that brought His people before Him. Depths, heights, sea and dry land all belong to the great King because His hands made them. The invitation to kneel joins gladness to humble worship, since the Creator is also the Shepherd whose pasture supplies His people's life. His voice calls for a present response, making today's hearing the issue toward which their songs and bowed bodies lead. Meribah and Massah recall quarrelling and testing over water, when people who had seen God's work questioned His care. Forty years of grieving Him exposed hearts that continually wandered from His ways. His sworn anger barred that generation from rest, and Hebrews 3 verses 7 to 11 repeat the Holy Spirit's warning.

How does Psalm 95 show us that God the Creator shepherds His people and warns that hardened unbelief will keep them from His rest?

God's creating and saving care call His people to joyful worship.

The King owns every depth, height, sea and dry place because He made them. His flock receives life and care from the same hand. Singing thanks and kneeling before Him belong together as answers to His greatness and kindness.

God calls for hearing today and judges hardened unbelief.

The wilderness generation had seen His works and still tested Him. Their wandering hearts grieved Him through forty years. His oath excluding them from rest warns worshippers to receive His voice with trusting obedience today.

Memorise

for he is our God. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care. Today, oh that you would hear his voice!

Psalm 95:7

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what word of Jesus am I refusing to hear today?

The song calls, “Today, oh that you would hear his voice!” The flock's Maker and Shepherd speaks to people who have reason to sing and kneel. The wilderness generation saw His works yet hardened their hearts, and His sworn judgment excluded them from rest.

Our stubborn sins also deserve the holy God's anger. Jesus died for His people, accepting the judgment their stubborn unbelief deserved and securing the rest their worship could never earn. He rose from the grave. Their rest is secured through an accomplished rescue, with everything needed for pardon and acceptance supplied by His obedient life and atoning death.

Turn from the unbelief you have excused and trust Jesus now. He forgives every sinner who comes to Him. Ask Him for a heart that receives His Word with faith and obeys it. The Shepherd's accomplished rescue gives His people lasting rest and calls believers to follow Him with humble, thankful praise.

Parent's note

Tell your children that our Creator and Shepherd calls His people to hear His voice and warns against hardened unbelief. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for His creating and shepherding care, and ask for hearts that hear Him today. Bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life.

John 5:40

Great King and Shepherd, please turn us from refusing Your Word and bring us to trust Jesus. Thank You for the pardon and rest His finished sacrifice has secured. Give our children new hearts, and teach us to hear Your voice today. Make our praise grateful and humble, and keep Your people walking in the faithful care of their Maker. Amen.