Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

It is considered to be one of six ‘Festival Anthems’ (95-100) that was used in the liturgy of the re- built temple service after the return of Judah from Babylon. It has been known throughout history as ‘Ven- ite’, the Latin word for ‘Come 1 ’. It is used today in synagogues ‘as one of the Friday evening psalms that introduce the Sabbath. The Western Church has adopted it into its daily “Order for Prayer 2 .”’ The ref- erence to David in Hebrews 4:7 is thought to be a representation of the entire Book of Psalms in addi- tion to him being the possible author of this psalm: “God announced this through David a long time later in the words already quoted: ‘Today you must listen to his voice.’”(Heb. 4:7) Throughout history the Book of Psalms has been simply called; ‘David.’ The outline marks the serious contrast between the worshiping, believing heart and those who are full of complaining and unbelief. Every Christian must decide if they are going to ‘live’ in the brightness of the first half of the psalm or in the depressing darkness and judgment of the second half:

I PSALMS OF PRAISE - 1-7 Praise and Worship II PLACE OF REST - 7-11 Prophecy and Warning

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PSALMS OF PRAISE - 1-7 Praise and Worship

Four different facets of praise are presented in these opening verses: 1. Singing- “Come, let us sing to the Lord! This is an open invitation to all humanity. God has made the approach to his presence to be enjoyable; singing our way past all of the cares, pains and difficul- ties of life. No matter what we face each day, a song lifted to the Lord will begin to refocus all the facul- ties of our being towards him. 2. Shouting- “Let us give a joyous shout to the rock of our salvation ! There is exuberance in the approach to God. It is not an angry yell but an affirmative, joyful expression of praise. This is the same word used for the shout that brought down the walls of Jericho in the days of Joshua: “Joshua com- manded the people, ‘Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!” (Josh. 6:16) 3. Thanking- “Let us come before him with thanksgiving” . Thanksgiving is like the sweet ingredi- ents of the incense that was to be offered every morning and evening on the Old Testament altar in the tabernacle. Thanksgiving is very precious to God as signified by this verse: “…for this is the Lord’s supremely holy altar.” (Ex. 30:10) 4. Psalms- “Let us sing him psalms of praise.” (1, 2) The psalms teach us the ‘language of wor- ship.’ When we are converted our speaking may be filled with all kinds of unclean language. Psalms be- comes the schoolbook whereby the Holy Spirit can instruct us into a whole new vocabulary of praise, gratefulness and blessing. The New Testament fully endorses the learning of this book: “Then you will sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, making music to the Lord in your hearts. And you will always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Eph. 5:19) “For the Lord is a great God, the great King above all gods. He owns the depths of the earth, and even the mightiest mountains are his. The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too.”(3-5) ‘The surrounding nations imagined Yaweh to be a merely local deity, the god of a small nation 3 …’ but these verses point out that he is an international, universal God who rules both in the heavenly and earthly realms. This reference to “the great King above all gods” categorizes this psalm among the ‘King’ psalms (93, 95-99). From the deepest caves and lowest points of our life to the exhilaration of the high- est and mightiest mountain summits, he is King. In this verse he reveals himself as the creator of the inanimate world, in verse 6 he reveals himself as our personal maker.

“Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the sheep under his care.” (6,7)

The first 5 verses of the psalm focus upon the methods and reasons to praise the Lord but these verses focus on the heart of worship. The psalm moves from the impersonal to the personal. We have a God who is great and powerful and yet he desires to be close to us in a warm and intimate way.

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