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Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord… For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. … Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice, “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness… (Psalm 95:1a, 3, 6-8)

In these days of pondering and playing witness to what it has been and will be to have a monarch over the nation of Canada, we perhaps have some footing on which to reckon with these psalms that speak of God as King. 

The Israelites lived in a land where the nations each had their own gods that they believed to be sovereign over the land or the sea.  But Israel’s claim was unique.  Whereas for other nations, their gods’ power tended to end at their own national borders, the Israelites claimed that their God was God over the whole of creation.  It’s true that the Israelites were monotheists.  The Lord was God and there was no other—but there were different ways of saying so amidst the nations and this was one of them.  In the assembly of deities, for Israel only one ruled supreme: the great King above all gods: The Lord. 

The psalm goes on to declare how the Lord is God over not just the other gods but all of creation.  How then should God’s people respond—this flock under his own care?  By coming to bow their own knees before his majestic throne, that’s how.  “Come, let us bow down in worship,” declares the psalmist, “let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God.”

But God is not a withdrawn, benevolent servant in cahoots with the national interest or the people’s parliament as it is in Canada.  We do not merely genuflect or nod to his majesty and comment to one another how cool it is that our God is the best of them all.  No: this sovereign is the living God, and in every today in history that ever has or ever will be known as “today,” he has something new to say to his people.  Always, even today he is speaking, if only you would hear his voice. 

As the people assemble, God’s voice all of a sudden speaks out in this psalm: “do not harden your hearts like you did that day in the wilderness…” 

As God’s people we are not merely invited to participate in the pageantry of worship or submission.  We are not merely to go through the motions.  When we come to worship and bow the knee to our God, Lord of all the Universe, we are also to bow our hearts and lives, submitting and bending our wills and living to the voice and call of our God.

No further command comes in the psalm.  Simply the command to keep not just our knees, but also our hearts, lives, and obedience supple and at the ready to hear and respond to God’s call. 

It was just such a situation that Jesus found himself in when tempted in the wilderness by another spiritual being who would’ve sought to usurp the throne of the God of gods.  But Jesus’ heart was not hard, and his ears remained attentive and responsive to the voice and calling of God His Father.  Where we failed, he prevailed, enabling our willing obedience in his steps, even as he continues to soften our hearts.  Take heart: we remain the flock under his care.

For a fun, minor, acoustic musical setting of this Psalm, you can find a cover of the Sons of Korah’s version of Psalm 95 by the group Half a Mile on Spotify by clicking here.