Day 17 - Raise the Roof

Written By: Joy Hardin

SCRIPTURE FOCUS
Psalm 95:1-7, NLT
Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him. 3 For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods. 4 He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains. 5 The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too. 6 Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, 7for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to his voice today! 

DEVOTION
Psalm 95 is an invitation to come to the Lord. Three times the invitation is given: “come sing,” “come with thanksgiving,” and “come worship and bow down” (vv. 1, 2, &6). Verses 1-2 describe our outward worship. The Message pictures a very public celebration: “Come, let’s shout praises to God, raise the roof for the Rock who saved us! Let’s march into his presence singing praises, lifting the rafters with our hymns!” Verses 6-7 describe our personal worship as we “bow down,” “kneel before the Lord,” and “listen to his voice.” This worship is intimate and personal. Both public and private worship are important and both should be present in our lives regularly.

Psalm 95 also paints a picture of two very different hearts. In verses 1-7 we see a heart that sings, thanks, praises, and worships God. In these verses the psalmist speaks and leads his listeners to worship the Lord. In verses 8-11 the Lord himself is the speaker declaring his anger and disapproval of the heart and that is hard, disobedient, and has turned away from God. A hard heart grows bitter and calloused. It robs us of the blessings of continued fellowship with Jesus and with others. The Lord watches over the one whose heart is praising and worshiping him, as a shepherd watches over his sheep. But the one whose heart is disobedient and hard finds no rest.

Robert Munger wrote an interesting booklet about 70 years ago entitled “My Heart, Christ’s Home.” In it he pictured opening the door of his home to Jesus and taking him through the different rooms. Think of your heart as Jesus’ home. “Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.” (Ephesians 3:17a, NLT). The first step is opening the door and inviting him in. (See Revelation 3:20.) If you haven’t done this already, it’s the starting point. If you have already invited Jesus in, what are the rooms in your heart-home like?

Whenever we’re having guests, we clean our home extra well, dusting, mopping and making it as beautiful as possible. We want to be welcoming. This is not a picture of salvation, because initially we don’t do the cleaning, Jesus does. But just like our physical homes, dust bunnies and clutter have a way of crawling back into our hearts. Like cleaning up for company, we need to keep our hearts a place for Christ. He convicts us of the things we need to remove or confess to him and repent of. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, ESV). Private worship is a time to listen to his voice and allow him to clean the rooms that have grown dusty or cluttered.

ACTION STEP
How is your personal worship? Do you spend time alone with the Lord worshiping and praising him? Do you sing to the Lord? Reread verses 1-6 and find at least four different names or attributes of God. Thank him for each of these characteristics and his goodness in your life. Spend time thanking Jesus for who he is and make a “joyful noise to him!”

PRAYER TIME
Father, thank you for who you are: You are the Rock of our salvation, a great God, a great King above all gods, the Lord our Maker. Thank you that you watch over us as a Shepherd who watches over his flock with tender care.