Saviour – Shepherd – Sovereign

An evening reflection on Psalm 95

“How was your day?”
But before you answer let’s read seven verses of Psalm 95.

1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
3 For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.

So, “How was your day?”  Will I feel sympathy if you’ve had a rough one?  Will I feel jealous if you’ve had a good one? In Psalm 95, our day and what we did in it, is not the Psalmist’s primary concern. He just extends this huge invitation, “Come, let us sing…”

And why? Why does he want us to sing? Because the one who is going to hear our song has given us Salvation.  A good day or a bad day does not alter God’s position on that. God remains our Saviour and we are invited to sing.

God is your Saviour! Does that do your head in? Does that boggle your mind? God has saved YOU. The Psalmist says our singing should be filled with thanksgiving because God our Saviour is a great Saviour. So great he made everything – the earth, the sea, the mountains the dry land and us. He actually made us.

And then the Psalmist extends a second huge invitation. Again, he says “come” followed by more detailed instructions. “Come, let us worship…bow down and kneel. “We’ve already acknowledged He is our Maker. Now he explains that our Maker, is our God and we are His people. He calls us “the people of His pasture, the flock under His care” making God our Shepherd as we are his sheep. The Psalmist may not be concerned about your day, whether it was good or bad but the Good Shepherd does. The Psalmist acknowledges that we are “under His care’.  Our daily bread is supplied by our Good Shepherd.

But the Psalmist says that your God is also your King, and not just an ordinary king, but a great King.  Our God is our Sovereign with unlimited power. A Sovereign who leads His troops wisely, who gives accurate directions and makes wise decisions. Our Sovereign fights our battles. Our Sovereign is not just mighty, He is Almighty.

God is your Saviour, Shepherd and Sovereign. When you realise this, it should make your day. So, “How was your day?”  But before you answer let’s read the T&Cs listed at the end of Psalm 95

Today, if only you would hear his voice,
8 “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
10 For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger ‘They shall never enter my rest’

Have you been quarrelling and questioning?  Have you been saying “Is the Lord among us or not?”, like the people at Meribah & Massah?  The way of the cross is before us. Think about it. Our God is our Saviour, our Shepherd and our Sovereign.

So, “How was your day?” But before you answer let me join the Psalmist and say “Come, let us sing”. Remembering that praise is more than words, enjoy one of my favourite old songs:

Trust and Obey
For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus
Than to trust and obey