The psalm begins on a high note.  “O Come, let us sing to the Lord…make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation…Come into his presence with thanksgiving…In his hand are the deeps of the earth.  The mountains belong to him too.  The sea is his…and…the dry land.”  God is the great Landlord of the earth.

We worship the Lord because, “he is our Creator.”  And, He has chosen us to be, “the people of his pasture…the sheep of his hand.”    We belong to God in that we were called and chosen in Christ.  Paul writes in Ephesians 1:3-4, that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing available in the heavens. God has chosen us since before the creation to be holy and blameless before him.  Therefore, “Today, if you hear my voice, do not harden your hearts.”

Now comes a warning from history.  “Don’t be like my people” when they lost faith in me as a caring God.  I, who had brought them through the Red Sea, they made me prove myself once again.  “I…said, ‘They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.’  Therefore, I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”

What happened to Israel in the past, could happen to us Christians today.  Thus, every day is a “today” in which to hear the word of the Lord, and trust in God who has created us and chosen us in Jesus Christ. Every day is a “today” to come into the Lord’s presence to sing, and make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Prayer: Almighty God, neither let us go astray as did those who murmured in the desert, nor let us be torn by discord.  With Jesus as our shepherd, bring us to enjoy the unity for which he prays; to you be the glory and praise now and forever.