MONDAY 29th
Psalm 95
NIV – (v6) ‘Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker . . .’
ESV – (v6) ‘Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!’
This is another psalm with a call to come and sing to the LORD for he is a great God and a great King above all gods. In our text it talks about coming and kneeling before the LORD, our Maker.
There are many ways in which we can come before God, we can stand or sit, we can even lie down but here it talks about kneeling, and then says why, ‘For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.’ The act of kneeling before God is a way of expressing our dependency upon him, recognising who he is as the One who has created all things, and specifically created us as individuals. A later Psalm which we will get to in a few devotions is Psalm 100 which also speaks of our being his people, the sheep of his pasture, so I will consider this when we get there.
For today we need to remind ourselves that the LORD God deserves the respect that he should be honoured with. He is not like the other gods and idols of this world, they are worthless, he is not like those who other religions come before or who claim to be the one that should be worshipped for there is only one True God and the only Living and Eternal God, and Yahweh is his name.
Remember the time when Moses was out on the mountain side tending his father-in-law’s sheep and he looked and saw a bush that burnt but was not consumed, his curiosity caused him to turn and look to see what was going on, and as he approached the LORD God spoke to him from in the midst of the bush, saying, ‘“Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Exodus 3:5-6) Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Moses wanted to know more, he had obviously heard of the God of Abraham, he had even experienced his hand of protection upon him as a babe while hidden by his mother in the basket in the bullrushes, but on this occasion he was having a fresh, new experience which would alter the course of his life, and Moses wanted to know more, I paraphrase it here, ‘Who are you?’ and God spoke to him again saying ‘“I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ (v14)
We know the story, a real story, not a fairy tale, it is the genuine account of a man’s experience of coming face to face with God, and it required a response that showed respect towards the holy God, ‘take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ I mentioned it a few weeks ago during our Sunday morning service that when we come into the Church building, we are coming into a place which has been dedicated or consecrated as holy ground, it is the place that has been appointed for us to meet with God, or rather should I say for God to meet with us! Therefore, we should always come with respect and in awe that we are allowed to come into the presence of the Holy God, the One who is our Maker, the One who has made each one of us. May we encounter God just like Moses did in powerful ways that will have an impact upon our lives in such a way that our future path will be in accord to what God’s will is for our lives, individually and collectively, may we as each Sunday morning arrives ‘turn to’ the house of God and come to see what great sight it is that God wants to do among us. May we come and whichever way it is, standing, sitting, lying down, or kneeling come before the Holy God and do business as we meet with him.