Count Your Blessings

Psalm 95

Today’s Psalm selection for this third week of Lent is one that is frequently used as a call to worship in morning prayers.  The second part of the psalm corresponds directly with the Old Testament reading for this week in the Lectionary, which I wrote about in my previous meditation.  These verses contain a strong warning, which we all should take heed of. Let’s look into this call to worship of the Lord God, and also the warning contained here.

Our Psalm opens with a broad invitation for God’s people to come worship, to sing songs of praise to Him.  The goal of worship is to glorify God. It begins with our attitude. In order to truly worship the Lord we must come into His presence with a repentant and humble heart, a mind that is focused on Him, and a desire to lead an obedient life.  Genuine worship requires a heart of faith, and obedience to God. We cannot properly worship without a joyful, thankful heart towards God.

We can be thankful to the Lord, for the Maker of heaven and earth has invited us to come boldly before His throne (Hebrews 4:16).  In the days when royalty held more power, one always made sure that they were properly attired in their presence. Even today, if one were given the honor to dine with the Queen, most people would never think to come without giving special attention to their clothes.  Similarly with God. Thanksgiving is the act of dressing properly to be in God’s court. We should never go into His presence without the garments of praise on.

God is our Rock, something strong, solid, and protective (vs. 1).  The Rock here also refers to the rock in the wilderness that brought forth water for the people.  That rock is a figure of the Lord Jesus, who brings us Living Water. God is also not like the made-up local gods, many of whom only “ruled” over a specific local area.  He is the Creator of the universe, and the Ruler of the whole earth (vs. 4-5). God is our Creator. We are His creation, and thus we need to submit to Him. Christians today need to return to a position and posture of respect and worship with God, remembering just Who He is (vs. 6).  He is the almighty, omnipotent God of all, not just some servant to come at our beck and call.

The second part of today’s psalm is a warning.  This warning refers back to the account in Exodus where the Hebrew people were grumbling and complaining against God, demanding Him to provide them with what they desired (Exodus 17:1-7).  They were hard-hearted and filled with unbelief. They had complained against God and His servant Moses from a few days after their miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, and all through the wilderness wanderings.  They were faithless and had contempt for God’s holiness and provisions. These verses (vs. 7b - 11) are here as a warning to us today. We need to be careful not to follow their example of unbelief. We need to hear His Voice, listen to it, and be careful to obey Him.

Hard ground is very difficult to plant a garden in.  It takes hard work to get it in condition for planting, often needing special equipment to prepare it.  Sometimes some areas of rock-hard ground aren’t even possible to get into condition for planting. A hard heart is even more difficult to work with (vs. 8).  God is not pleased with a hard heart, one that is not tender to His Word and work. The Israelites hardened their hearts against God in the desert, and thus were left to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. They lost their faith, complained, and whined. It is very difficult for someone with a hardened heart to become soft again, and turn to God.  These folks are stubbornly set in their ways. They have disregarded God and His will for so long.  If one resists God long enough, He may toss them aside like a worthless, hardened clod of dirt. Thus the strong warning here to be careful not to get a hardened heart!

The final warning here is the danger of not entering into God’s rest (vs. 11).  The “rest” initially referred to the Israelites entering into the Promised Land.  In the New Testament it became analogous to refer to trusting God, both in salvation, and then throughout our Christian walk with Him.  What keeps us from entering God’s rest? Having ungrateful hearts (vs. 2), not worshipping or submitting to God (vs. 6), hardening our heart (vs. 8), and testing God because of doubts (vs. 9).  Let’s remember to do what one old-time hymn calls us to do - “Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done!”