When our children were young I purchased a poster from American Bible Society that had portions of Psalm 95 around the edges. Every night before they went to sleep I would read it to them after stories and before prayers.

I came across Psalm 95 when reading and praying Morning Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer was my practice. In my personal copy of Common Prayer I wrote the definitions of Meribah – STRIFE or CONTENTION and Massah – TEMPTATION. A few verses of the Psalm are repeated in Hebrews 4. I had studied Hebrews 4 in depth tying to understand the concept of entering God’s rest.

O that today you would listen to his voice!
⁸     Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
⁹ when your ancestors tested me,
    and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
¹⁰ For forty years I loathed that generation
    and said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
    and they do not regard my ways.’
¹¹ Therefore in my anger I swore,
    ‘They shall not enter my rest.’

Psalm 95:7b-11 NRSV

Strife and temptation. Yes, I am so prone to those two! Likely, you are also?

What lead me to this Psalm again was an attempt to express the wonders of the LORD I have found over the past six weeks. I will just let you read it.

Subtitle: A Call to Worship and Obedience

¹ O come, let us sing to the Lord;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
² Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
³ For the Lord is a great God,
    and a great King above all gods.
⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
⁵ The sea is his, for he made it,
    and the dry land, which his hands have formed.

⁶ O come, let us worship and bow down,
    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
⁷ For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.

O that today you would listen to his voice!
⁸     Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
⁹ when your ancestors tested me,
    and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
¹⁰ For forty years I loathed that generation
    and said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
    and they do not regard my ways.’
¹¹ Therefore in my anger I swore,
    ‘They shall not enter my rest.’

Psalm 95 NRSV

I pray you rejoice over the LORD. Make a joyful noise to Him. Give Him thanks. Understand that He is the Great King! The depths of the earth, heights of the mountains, the sea and dry land – all are His for He made them! We are the sheep of His hand. LISTEN to His voice and be renewed in life and strength and grace.

In Hawaii we would begin the day at sea level them go for a drive. Before too long we were at 3,000 feet. My ears began to pop! Then suddenly we could see the snow atop Mauna Loa where the observatory sits. No, my photos did not come out. Just imagine palm trees and flowering shrubs, geckos running around and then seeing snow. Made me go yikes. At first Bob did not believe me. Then he saw with his own eyes and he too was amazed.

USGS reports on Mauna Loa: “Its long submarine flanks descend to the seafloor an additional 5 km (16,400 ft), and the seafloor in turn is depressed by Mauna Loa’s great mass another 8 km (26,200 ft). This makes the volcano’s summit about 17 km (55,700 ft) above its base! The enormous volcano covers half of the Island of Hawai‘i and by itself amounts to about 85 percent of the area of all the other Hawaiian Islands combined.” https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mauna-loa