Psalm 95:2 NKJV
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
Let us come before His presence: This means that worship should be done with a conscious sense of God’s presence. God’s people don’t sing into empty space; He is in their presence and they are in His presence. There is – or should be – a true connection between God and His people in worship.
His presence doesn’t mean God in the holy of holies, symbolized at the ark of the covenant. There could be no invitation to the community to come before His presence there. Even when they had the tabernacle and the temple, the Jewish people rightly understood the spiritual presence of God.
With thanksgiving: Our worship should express a heart of thanksgiving to our God, who has done so much for us. (Guzik)
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“Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving.” Here is probably a reference to the peculiar presence of God in the Holy of Holies above the mercy seat, and also to the glory which shone forth out of the cloud which rested above the tabernacle. Everywhere God is present, but there is a peculiar presence of grace and glory into which men should never come without the profoundest reverence. We may make bold to come before the immediate presence of the Lord—for the voice of the Holy Ghost in this psalm invites us, and when we do draw near to him we should remember his great goodness to us and cheerfully confess it. Our worship should have reference to the past as well as to the future; if we do not bless the Lord for what we have already received, how can we reasonably look for more. We are permitted to bring our petitions, and therefore we are in honor bound to bring our thanksgivings.
“And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.” We should shout as exultingly as those do who triumph in war, and as solemnly as those whose utterance is a psalm. It is not always easy to unite enthusiasm with reverence, and it is a frequent fault to destroy one of these qualities while straining after the other. The perfection of singing is that which unites joy with gravity, exultation with humility, fervency with sobriety. The invitation given in the first verse (Psa 95:1) is thus repeated in the second (Psa 95:2) with the addition of directions, which indicate more fully the intent of the writer. One can imagine David in earnest tones persuading his people to go up with him to the worship of Jehovah with sound of harp and hymn, and holy delight. The happiness of his exhortation is noteworthy, the noise is to be joyful. this quality he insists upon twice. It is to be feared that this is too much overlooked in ordinary services, people are so impressed with the idea that they ought to be serious that they put on the aspect of misery, and quite forget that joy is as much a characteristic of true worship as solemnity itself. (Spurgeon)
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Spiritual joy is the heart and soul of thankful praise. It is the will of God (such is the condescension of his grace) that when we give glory to him as a being infinitely perfect and blessed we should, at the same time, rejoice in him as our Father and King, and a God in covenant with us. (Henry)
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Let us come before his presence — פניו panaiv, his faces, with thanksgiving, בתודה bethodah, with confession, or with the confession-offering. Praise him for what he has already done, and confess your unworthiness of any of his blessings. The confession offering, the great atoning sacrifice, can alone render your acknowledgment of sin and thanksgiving acceptable to a holy and just God. (Clarke)
Posted on 10/19/2024 by Bill
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