Psalm 95

Preached at Belmont Baptist Church of Broomall on November 21, 2010

In 1998, after serving as pastor in local churches, I was called to work at our denominational offices in King of Prussia. It was a significant change. My focus changed from the local church issues to the church at large. I no longer worked with church members on committees but rather worked for a supervisor and worked with colleagues in ministry. Instead of running programs, creating experiences of faith and leading a church, I dealt with starting new churches, doing more effective evangelism, making disciples and renewing churches. One other significant change: I was paid more than I could ever make as a pastor.

I had been thankful for God’s provision throughout my ministry, but I wanted to ensure that having a larger income would not lead me to take anything for granted. So as I began that new phase of ministry, I committed myself to consciously remembering God’s goodness and to give thanks for everything. Thanksgiving has now become an important part of how I live my life of faith. When I was laid off because they no longer had the income to pay all their staff, I remained thankful and am thankful to this day. I see God’s goodness in everything.

At the time I was laid off, I began to see why the Israelites responded as they did after they left Egypt. Starting with the end of verse 7, the Psalmist recounts the reactions of the Israelites in the wilderness. Although they were slaves in Egypt, they lived along the fertile Nile River and were able to grow more than enough food to take care of their needs. They not only had a lot of food but they also had seasonings to make their food delightful to eat. Plus they never had to worry about having nothing to drink. Then they came to Meribah.

The word “meribah” means “quarreling” and “complaining.” They had escaped Egypt with Pharaoh’s army in hot pursuit. Then they experienced God’s goodness when he delivered them at the Red Sea. But they no longer had all the good food they had before. So they quarreled with Moses: “why did you bring us out here where there is no food? We will die of hunger.” And they complained. It is so easy to complain and grumble when you go from having plenty to having nothing. In spite of their quarrelling and complaining, God provided manna and quail for them to eat. At just about the same time, they came to a place where there was no water for them to drink. So they grumbled. In spite of their grumbling, God did provided water. From that point on, the people never lacked for their basic needs as long as they were in the wilderness.

Let me put their wilderness grumbling and complaining into our setting because what the Israelites did is typical of how we approach life. It would be easy for us to say that they had a “right” to complain when they had no food to eat and when they had no water to drink. We could also say that people have a right to grumble and complain about our current economic situation. Almost 10% of all Americans are unemployed. But over 90% of all Americans are employed. So we should expect that those who still have jobs would be thankful, right? A recent Gallop poll discovered that almost 75% of those with jobs are not grateful they have a job but instead spend their time at work griping about their work. Even though they have steady incomes, they are not grateful.

Robert Emmons, a professor at the University of California, has studied gratitude in the Bible and defines it this way: “Gratefulness is a knowing awareness that we are the recipients of goodness.” That is what drove the writer of Psalm 95. I believe the writer of this Psalm has a clear understanding of our human tendencies: either we are aware of God’s goodness, or we gripe and complain. It is our choice about how we go through life. Either we go through life knowing that we are the recipients of goodness, or we grumble and complain.

Look at the thankfulness found in this Psalm. In verse 1, the writer identifies God as the Rock of our salvation. How wonderful it is to know that we have that security in life, not because of our doing but because God is able to save…and saves us over and over again! So the Psalmist invites us to join him in thanksgiving to God. In verses 3 through 5, the Psalmist identifies God as the source of all that is—the world and all that is in it…including all that we need. Remember Emmons words: “Gratefulness is a knowing awareness that we are the recipients of goodness.” My brother in Florida constantly says “life is good.” I believe that, but I take it one step further: life is good because God is good in what he does for us.

The Psalmist continues in verses 6 and 7 by describing our this God as taking care of us like a shepherd taking care of his flock. Do you see how God is taking care of you? Jack Murphy went into the hospital with chest pains and the doctors were able to insert stints so that his heart could get its share of oxygenated blood in order for it to keep beating. From the first time I visited him in the hospital until now, he has not grumbled or complained but rather has been thankful. God is caring for him. He is just the most recent example that I have seen. Many of you have faced all sorts of difficulties. When the storm came through the area in June and knocked out power, God’s goodness kept you safe and even provided for your basic needs (even if you didn’t have warm food and air conditioning and hot showers). I have seen a spirit of thankfulness repeatedly as you have been so aware of how God has been good to you.

But it is a choice. We can be attuned to God’s working in our lives in every situation…or we can be embittered by circumstances. We can see God’s goodness or we can question what God is doing in the difficulties we face. We can live gratefully or we can grumble and complain. This past week, a zone valve went bad and the hot water heater at the parsonage died. This follows the discovery over a week ago that the downspout at the corner was plugged up causing water to overflow the gutter and ruin this corner of the building. We can choose how we respond: we can thank God that these things have happened and trust God to work for good…or we can grumble and complain (“Why this? Why now? What more can go wrong? Don’t we have enough to handle?”)

The story is told of a tourist in Mexico who was watching local women washing their clothes. It was an area which had a special geological feature: side-by-side, there was a spring of hot water and a spring of cold water flowing out of the earth into two separate pools. They could wash in the warm water and then rinse in the cool water. The tourist turned to his tour guide and said “They must think Mother Nature is generous to freely supply running hot and cold water.” The tour guide replied “No, there is much grumbling because she supplies no soap.”

I found this quote which I thought summarized the Psalmist’s worship: “Just as there are no barriers to experiencing God’s grace, neither are there excuses. If we want more of his blessings, we must praise him for those we already have. A thankful heart always leads to more blessings, even if we seemingly don’t have a lot to be thankful for. The blessings may come quietly, unexpectedly, or in disguise, but come they will. But we most choose gratitude to receive them, for our own good.” (Stan Guthrie from All that Jesus Asks) This thanksgiving, just look for God’s goodness and you will find it. Then we can, as the Bible instructs us, give thanks in all things.