Psalms 95: 1

Psalms 95:1 says, O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.  As the psalmist called on the people of Israel to do then, to sing and make a joyful noise to the rock of their salvation, so should we as followers of Christ do today.  Verse two adds, Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.  As the people of Israel were asked to do then, we today as Christians should come into God's presence with thanksgiving, because He is the only One Who can provide us with salvation.  We do not worship Him for material reasons, but for spiritual ones.  Verse three declares, For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.  This always has been and always will be true.  God is above all else, even the things that we might attempt to make a god in our life.  Verse four adds, In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.  God is the God of everything and every place.  Verse five continues, The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.  As stated already, everything belongs to God, both the sea and the land of the world, and everything else in the universe itself.  Verse six states, O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.  We as followers of Christ must humble ourselves before God and worship Him alone.  Verse seven adds, For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.  If we will hear his voice, even though to be a sheep is today used as a term of derision, we are called on to be the sheep of God.  Like sheep with a shepherd, we are to be obedient to His voice and dependant on Him to guide us and keep us safe.  Verse eight says, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:  The people of Isreal were called on to not harden their hearts against God, and if we are Christians then we should never harden our hearts to the will of God, as the people of Israel did in the wilderness, and we should call on the lost of the world to not do so.  Verse nine adds, When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.  When the people of Israel refused to follow God's will and tempted Him, He proved that He was God by His work.  Today, even though we can see the work of God throughout the universe, we see His redemptive power through faith in Jesus Christ alone.  Verse ten continues, Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:  God was grieved by the people of Israel, whom He had delivered from Egypt, and for forty years in the wilderness as a generation who didn't put their faith in God they were never allowed into the promised land.  It is not enough to claim to be a part of God's kingdom without putting our faith totally in Him, beginning by accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  Verse eleven concludes, Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.  God did not let the people of Israel who did not truly believe in Him into the promised land.  Likewise, He will not let anyone into the kingdom of heaven if they do not truly put their faith in Jesus Christ.