Tune My Heart to Sing Thy Praise

Psalm 95 has always been one of my favorite passages of Scripture. It’s one that we might read at the beginning of a service as a call to worship, and that would be very appropriate because it encourages the people of God to come, sing, shout, and kneel before the Lord. It also reminds us that we belong to God. What an amazing fact that we belong to and have a relationship with the God of the universe who created all things. It tells us that we are to worship this God with joy.

The second half of the Psalm takes a different turn and tells of a people who go astray in their hearts by retelling the wilderness wanderings. They put God to the test and He told them that they would not enter His rest. That doesn’t sound like an encouraging passage that we might read at the beginning of a worship service. I’ve often wondered how these two parts of the psalm fit together. The psalmist expresses a call to praise as well as the Lord’s rebuke. We were reminded in Pastor Eric’s message from this past Sunday in Matthew 15, the attitude of our heart matters. That attitude will show in what comes out of our mouths and in our lives. I believe that Psalm 95 is saying something similar. We can learn that our coming, singing, shouting, and kneeling are all fruitless if our hearts are not in tune with God’s heart. I pray that each of us could say, “Tune my heart to sing Thy praise.” I am so thankful to be a part of our church family at South Tulsa, thankful to be in a church that sings their praises to God with enthusiasm. However, I am even more thankful to be in a church that seeks to follow after the Lord and obey Him with a whole heart.