Doing what you’re told
Worship and Obey the LORD
1Sing joyful songs to the LORD!Praise the mighty rock
where we are safe.
2Come to worship him
with thankful hearts
and songs of praise.
3The LORD is the greatest God,
king over all other gods.
4He holds the deepest part
of the earth in his hands,
and the mountain peaks
belong to him.
5The ocean is the Lord’s
because he made it,
and with his own hands
he formed the dry land.
6Bow down and worship
the LORD our Creator!
7The LORD is our God,
and we are his people,
the sheep he takes care of
in his own pasture.
Listen to God’s voice today!
8Don’t be stubborn and rebel
as your ancestors did
at Meribah and Massah out in the desert.
9For forty years
they tested God
and saw
the things he did.
10Then God got tired of them
and said,
“You never show good sense,
and you don’t understand
what I want you to do.”
11In his anger, God told them,
“You people will never enter
my place of rest.”
There are rules about going on a journey. The Railway Byelaws, for example, make fascinating reading – apparently!
So journeying with God is not just about having a great time, praising and worshipping him, exploring where he’s taking us – obedience has to come into it too.
Obedience is one of those words that has got a bad reputation. It’s really not the done thing for anyone to tell anyone else what to do. But unless there are some rules everything can get very confusing and even dangerous. What would happen if we all climbed into our cars and made up the rule as we went along? It would not be very long before there was a collision.
And so, in this Psalm, yes we are invited to worship God, to thank him for all the amazing things he has done and will do – to enjoy the view if you like; so we are also reminded to listen to his voice – and having heard what he says, to not to be stubborn, not to rebel, and not to test God.
If God is anything, he is the one who knows the rules – he made them. Returning back to Genesis – there was just one rule – and look where disobeying that has got us. If we are going to trust God, then we have to trust him to know what is best, and follow it. Popular or not, that is the way to successful travelling.
God leads, he protects, he holds it all in his hand – what’s not to trust?
You will have to watch this directly on YouTube
Lord you know
that I’m, not always good at doing what I’m told.
I like to do things my way,
in my time.
But I know really
that you know best,
so help me to turn my belief to trust
and my trust to action
and obedience
Pam's Perambulation 