Why do we bow and worship God?
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| English: Jesus Christ - detail from Deesis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker (Ps. 95:6).
The writer of Psalm 95, in exhorting Israel to praise God in a solemn assembly, directs them to worship God properly as Creator and Redeemer. He also warns the church not to harden its heart against God, but to worship Him with sincerity.
The psalmist instructs believers to thank God for electing them to eternal life by His free favor. God supplies us with ample ground for praise when He invests us with spiritual distinction and advances us to a greater status than the rest of mankind by making us heirs to His kingdom. This honor rests on no merits of our own, but only the merits of Jesus Christ. The duty of God’s people, therefore, is to devote themselves entirely to God. The worship of God demands our whole strength. We must keep in mind God’s authority as we approach Him in worship—that He is our Father, our Savior, the Shepherd of our souls. God evidenced His paternal relationship to the people of Israel, and now to all who believe in Christ, by His exclusive adoption of them unto the hope of eternal life. Our response to the Lord for this glorious privilege is to worship Him with sincere and humble hearts.
The psalmist gives a sober warning applicable to people in all ages—we must not harden our hearts in the worship of the Lord as Israel did at Meribah. After God led Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, He brought them into the wilderness. But the people acted as if God had not done enough for them, and they hardened their hearts against Him. The psalmist exhorts believers not to do the same by reminding us of the harsh punishment God brought against Israel for testing God. Even though God proved Himself faithful time and again, they still demanded more from Him. God answered their folly by not allowing them to enter the promised land. “The lesson is one which is equally applicable to ourselves,” Calvin wrote, “for the more abundant testimonies we may have had of the power and lovingkindness of the Lord, the greater will our sin be if we insist upon receiving additional proofs of them.” Let us then worship God with sincere hearts, praising Him for His power and mercy, recognizing that He is our Shepherd, who faithfully cares for His flock.
Read Hebrews 3:7–19. How does the writer of Hebrews use this psalm to exhort the church? How does someone become hardened by sin’s deceitfulness? What was at the root of Israel’s rebellion in the desert? Examine your life for any unbelief or hardening of the heart that inhibits you from worshiping God properly.
