Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Psalm 95:1
The praise song drifted downstairs . . . at 6:33 on a Saturday morning. I didn’t think anyone else was awake, but my youngest daughter’s scratchy voice proved me wrong. She was barely conscious, but there was already a song on her lips.
My youngest is a singer. In fact, she can’t not sing. She sings when she wakes up. When she goes to school. When she goes to bed. She was born with a song in her heart—and most of the time, her songs focus on Jesus. She’ll praise God anytime, anywhere.
I love the simplicity, devotion, and earnestness of my daughter’s voice. Her spontaneous and joyful songs echo invitations to praise God found throughout Scripture. In Psalm 95, we read, “Come let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation” (v. 1). Reading further, we learn that this praise flows from an understanding of who He is (“For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods,” v. 3)—and whose we are (“For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture,” v. 7).
For my daughter, those truths are her first thought in the morning. By God’s grace, this little worshiper offers us a profound reminder of the joy of singing to Him.
What prompts you to praise God for His faithfulness to you? What songs help you to remember and focus on His character and goodness?
God, thank You for who You are and for what You’ve done for me—and for all Your people—by inviting us to be sheep in Your pasture. Let today be filled with my songs of praise for Your goodness.
INSIGHT
Psalm 95 belongs to a group of psalms called “enthronement psalms” or “royal psalms” because they use the royal image of a king celebrating and declaring God’s sovereign reign over all creation and over all history. Other examples of enthronement psalms are Psalms 47, 93, 96–99. The royal psalms include such statements as “the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth” (47:2); His “throne was established long ago . . . from all eternity” (93:2); “the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods” (95:3).
Psalm 95 is easily outlined into two parts: a call to worship God as King (vv. 1–7a) and a warning not to reject Him as King (vv. 7b–11). In his warning, the psalmist draws from the Israelites’ history of rebellion against and lack of faith in God at Meribah and Massah (v. 8; see Exodus 17:1–7). The writer of Hebrews had Psalm 95 in view when he wrote Hebrews 3:7–11.