Listen to today’s reading by Jonathan Dent:

Reading: Psalm 95:1-7 (NIV)*

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.

Reflection

I can’t read this opening portion of Psalm 95 without the folk spiritual “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” springing to mind. The psalmist makes this declaration: 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 (v. 4-5). In other words, He’s got the whole world in His hands. 

There is something deeply reassuring about that thought. The great loving God, the Creator of the universe, has the whole world in His hands. But more specifically, our heavenly Father has you and me in His hands. If we grasp this biblical truth, it has broad personal implications.

Early this morning I met with a weekly gathering of men to pray and study God’s word. One of the co-leaders of the group is going through a great personal tragedy. His young, vibrant wife is dying of pancreatic cancer. Unless the Lord miraculously intervenes, his school-age son and daughter will soon be without a mother. At the close of our meeting, we placed our hands on this husband and father and prayed. The LORD has the whole world in his hands including this young family.

Do we understand the LORD’s purposes in all this? No. We would be fools to think we do. We can content ourselves in knowing that these great matters—these matters of life and death are in God’s hands. They are loving hands—hands that in the person of Jesus were scarred and pierced by nails. I’ll be content to be held in those hands.

Knowing this, let’s heed the psalmist’s call. 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 (v. 6-7).