Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice, “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did. For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

This is such a beautiful Psalm I could not break it up. Re-read it again and let it soak in.
We have “the praise and glory” and “the warning”. Let’s start with the warning: “Do not harden your hearts.” That’s it. Sounds simple. But in practice, over a life full of challenges and struggles, it is not. Hardening our hearts is a life-turning from God. Self-sufficiency, pride, and over-confidence in our own abilities mixes with healthy doses of anger, bitterness, and general negativity (as examples), and suddenly we have a heart that thinks it does not need God. When life’s challenges and hardships happen, how we choose to respond and move to deal with them can either draw us closer or move us farther away from God.

And now, to “the praise and the glory”. We have so much to be thankful for in relationship with God. We can be thankful for his loving and faithful character or his power and might by which he formed and sustains the earth: its majestic mountain peaks, its uncontrollable seas, and its sprawling open land. We can worship and extol the Lord, because he is our Maker, his hands crafted us and know every facet of our being. And he has made us a people, like sheep who have the guidance, protection, and provision of a shepherd. He loves us like a shepherd loves his sheep. And he is our Rock, unmovable and secure.

Thank you, Father, for your wonderful love for me! You made me. You know me intimately. You plan specifically for my individual success. You call me your own and you call me to follow your lead as I live. You love and bless and encourage many and I get to join you in this great work! Oh, what excitement and joy I experience in joining you each day. Mountains of gold and silver could not compare to the joy set before me! Thank you for transforming my life into a life on mission and yoked with your Son, Jesus. Together, we take some serious spiritual ground and spread your life-giving love to a dark and damaged world of people hungry for it.