“Better Together” is an audio ministry of Corowa Presbyterian Church. When it grows up, it might even be a podcast. If you want to listen to the episodes so far, click on this link.
If you are happy to read plain old print, keep reading here for our latest episode.
Hello friends and welcome to Better Together, an audio ministry of Corowa Presbyterian Church.
In our Sunday church meetings we’ve been looking at the Psalms. So I thought in this episode I’d read to you from one of my favourites, Psalm 95. Here’s verses 1 and 2:
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
I love how the first verse gives us two options. It calls on us to sing to the Lord. But if we can’t, it invites us just to make a joyful noise in praise to him. It reminds us that worship should never be half-hearted or self-conscious, but exuberant and God-conscious.
But in case we aren’t quite sure if we want to sing his praise, the next few verses give us two very good reasons why we should. The first reason is because our God is the God. Here’s verses 3 to 5:
For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
Our God is the God. He is not the god of one mountain. He is not the god of one country. And he is not our own imaginary friend. He is the one true and living God. The maker of all things who spins the distant galaxies on his finger. Nothing can frustrate him. Nothing can hinder his plans. Our God is the God.
But if that wasn’t reason enough, verses 6 and 7 give us another good reason, because the God is our God.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
He is not just a remote God, a divine architect who set the universe running, but took no further interest. He is our God. He is my God, who knows my name, who knows both the hairs on my head. He belongs to me so that I may belong to him. I am his and he is mine.
This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. In his deeds of power and grace, in his cross and empty tomb we see God, not just the God, but our God. The God who made all things. The God who knows my name. The God who says, “I belong to you so that you may belong to me.”
Two very good reasons to sing his praise. Or if you can’t to make a joyful noise.