Praise and Obey
Psalm 95 is a call to worship God by His people. It explains why they should worship their great and God and warns that not worshiping and obeying comes from a heart of unbelief.
The psalm begins with A Call to Corporate Worship (1-7). The psalmist implores God’s people to praise God with exuberance (1-2). God’s people should praise Him for His incomparable nature (1-5). God is great, He is King over all of universe (3). No idols can compare with Him. From the highest mountains to the deepest abyss, He rules on High (4). YHWH is the Creator of all the earth (5). Brethren, let us worship our great and powerful God together as the assembled church (2,6). The psalmist continues by extolling God’s goodness as an additional reason to worship Him (6-7). Brethren, we are His sheep, and Christ our Great Shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep (Jn 10:11).
The second part of the psalm is A Call to Wholehearted Worship (7-11). It is impossible to please God without wholehearted obedience to His commands (7-11). The Israelites in the wilderness worshipped God, yet with an unbelieving heart. They heard God’s word and hardened their hearts. To harden one's heart is to stubbornly refuse to do what you know to be right (8). The Israelites were not satisfied with God and did not trust Him, and they complained and tested Him repeatedly (9). Because of their unbelief, they missed God’s rest (His blessings and presence) (10-11). The warning here for all is that worship is a matter of one’s whole life. It is not just Sunday gatherings of praise, but a life of faithfulness to God’s word. Our faith is demonstrated in our praise and our obedience (Rom 12:1).