BiblicalInsights.net

What do all of the following have in common:  a beautiful sunset or sunrise, the giggle of your grandchild, the early morning dew, a word fitly spoken in kindness, a cup of cold water given in the name of Jesus, and faith the size of a grain of mustard seed?  They are all examples of the value of small things.
Consider the following quotes:  “Live life like it’s the last breath you take for that breath is the whole essence of living, the little things in life are what connects us to all the big things we live for” (Robert Frost).  “True greatness consists in being great in little things” (Alvin Toffler).  “Find gratitude in the little things and your well of gratitude will never run dry” (Antonia Montoya).  “Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out” (Robert Collier).  “Embrace the power of little things, and you will build a tower of mighty things” (Israelmore Ayivor).  “Without water drops, there can be no ocean” (Mehmet Murat).
We will add some scripture thoughts and insights to this list of quotations and explore the wonder of the mundane (the insignificant, often neglected, aspects of God’s wisdom).
Delight in Small Things
Daily reliance upon God for joy in the small things of life allows Him to become more precious to us.  It creates channels of delight and it demonstrates His power working in the more mundane things of our daily experience.  Paul by inspiration writes, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (II Cor. 9:8).  The supply of God’s grace comes in sufficient amounts to enable us to accomplish every good work.
Little Foxes Spoil The Vineyard (Song of Solomon 2:15).  
Small things may come in negatives.  Foxes spoil the vineyards.  Termites destroy foundations.  We must be aware of small habits that turn us away from God.  Lack of attendance at the worship assembly may seem trite, but it indicates a much bigger problem.  We are supplanting God with something else and have thus created an idol.  Is it recreation?  Is it family?  Is it our own will?  Love for God must be supreme in our lives.  Devotion to God is one aspect of our love for God.
Faithfulness In Little Things (Luke 16:10).
“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much:  and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.”  Faithfulness in little things is how we prove ourselves trustworthy and reliable so that we can take on more responsibility.   When you make a commitment, you must follow through with it.  No matter how trivial you think that it is.  When you fail to keep your word even once, you undermine confidence in your reliability.  Stewardship is a test of our trustworthiness.  Since God owns everything, we are all stewards of what He has entrusted to us.  How we manage even a small amount is vitally important since it reveals our true character.
A Small Rudder Guides the Ship (James 3:4).
“Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.  Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth” (James 3:3-4).  James compares the ability to guide a ship with a rudder to the power of the tongue.  He describes the tongue as a small member and then teaches that it can kindle a great fire!  There is power in the tongue for good and for evil.  Think of the harm that has been done to many relationships by words of hate, meanness, and prejudice.  Think of the power of a lie to deceive millions.  Remember, Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44).   Then, consider the power of God’s Word to transform lives and save our souls (James 1:21).  Truly, there is great power in our words.  “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” (James 2:19).
Faith Like A Grain of Mustard Seed (Luke 17:6).
“And the Lord said, “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you” (Luke 17:6).  The quantity of our faith is not as important as the quality of our faith.  An authentic faith is powerful and can accomplish great things.  The mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds, yet produces a tree large enough for the birds of the air to lodge therein.  Small things can produce great results.  Of course, our faith never stands alone.  Faith worketh by love (Gal. 5:6).  The combination of faith and love makes us formidable soldiers in God’s kingdom.
The Power of the Common Person In Relationship to God (I Cor. 1:26-27).
“For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh,  not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence” (I Cor. 1:26-27).  The common person is more likely to put his/her trust in God than the powerful, rich, and noble.  The latter tend to put their trust in education, riches, and positions.  God’s wisdom is found in His Word.  Those who reject God’s Word, deny His wisdom.  Instead, they turn to the wisdom of this world.  James contrasts the wisdom of the world with the wisdom from above in James 3:13-18.  Read it for yourself.
A Little Leaven Leaveneth The Whole Lump (Gal. 5:9; I Cor. 5:6).
In Gal. 5:9, Paul warns about the power of evil or error to corrupt not just one person, but many.  “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.”  Some Judaizing teachers were demanding that Gentile Christians keep the Law of Moses and be circumcised.  This was a false doctrine (see Acts 15:24).  This false doctrine was persuasive to some and they were leaving their spiritual union in Christ for Moses (Gal. 5:1-4).  Paul states that they were fallen from grace.   In I Cor. 5:6, Paul rebuked the Corinthian brethren for permitting a person who was living in fornication to go undisciplined.  The leaven in this context was fornication and if left alone the situation would influence others to sin against God.  The Corinthian brethren responded to Paul’s teaching and disciplined the individuals involved.  Sin and error often creep in little by little.  Small steps away from God are troubling and should be met with swift justice from God’s people.
Sparrows Vs. God’s Children (Mt. 10:29-31).
“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows” (Mt. 10:29-31).  A sparrow is not worth much in monetary value.  Yet, God knows when one dies.  Human beings are of greater value to God than sparrows.  And, God’s own children are of greater value than sparrows.  Jesus uses an argument from the lesser to the greater to indicate the value of God’s children to Him and His active concern (Love) for them.  God’s special care is indicated by His complete knowledge of those who belong to Him.
The Power of God Plus One (John 6:9).
Jesus fed five thousand men plus women and children on one occasion with five loaves and two fish.  A young man’s lunch consisted of five loaves of bread and two small fish.  How could so little feed so many?   The answer is that in the hands of Jesus, they proved to be more than enough.  Jesus miraculously multiplied the bread and fish and fed thousands!  This is a remarkable miracle.  Reliance upon Jesus made all the difference.  Because of who Jesus is and what He can do, the impossible to us becomes possible through Him.  God plus one can make a tremendous difference in life’s circumstances.  Truly, “with God all things are possible: (Matt 19:26).
One Master (Mt. 6:24).
“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.  Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Mt. 6:24).  Jesus repudiates a divided loyalty.  We must serve God alone.  Jesus shows that any attempt to serve two masters is destined to fail.  There is only one, true, and living God.  The god of mammon is an idol.  Idols are nothing.  When we misplace our affections and love something or someone else more than God, we sin by violating the law of love for God. “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment” (Mt. 22:37-38).   God tolerates no rivals!  But, consider, there is no need for more than one God because God is all-sufficient and supplies us with every spiritual need and temporal blessing (Mt. 6:33; II Cor. 9:8).
Small things are significant!  Embrace the power of small things and you will build a tower of great things.  Success is the sum of small things repeated daily.  When we focus on small things, there is no end to our joy and delight and wonder.

The ultimate quest of the human heart is to know God.  This quest involves wonder.  Wonder is “inquisitive awe in the pursuit of an understanding of all of the perfections of the excellent majesty of God.”  To know God is eternal life (I John 5:20).  This knowledge is truly unsurpassed.
The nature of beauty has been an enduring mystery to artists and philosophers.  What is beauty?  Some define it as “order, arrangement, and harmony of some kind understood as either objective qualities inherent in something beautiful or as subjective sentiment (beauty is in the eye of the beholder) of a person experiencing something that is esteemed beautiful or as both objective –an object possesses a certain arrangement of qualities or characteristics and subjective–these characteristics are satisfying to the mind and evoke pleasure.  The Scriptures teach us that beauty is the very composition of things:  the design or form of whatever exists.  The origin of beauty is the LORD.  This is expressed in two Psalms:  27:1-4 and 90:17.  “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?  When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.  Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple (Ps. 27:1-4).  “And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it” (Ps. 90:17). The first of these Psalms is written by David.  The second is written by Moses.  But, both contain the same affirmation of the beauty of the LORD.  What is the beauty of the LORD?  We must mediate upon the LORD and note His perfections.  His perfections are the sum total of all of His qualities inherent in His excellent majesty or glory (II Pet. 1:16-17).  Consider: the beauty of His perfection; His holiness, His Mind; and His oneness.  A thoughtful study of each of these will begin the quest to know the beauty of the LORD.
The Beauty of Perfection
An accomplished woodworker noted that nothing he made from wood was perfect.  But, the tree from which he secured the wood was perfect.  The human element introduces flaws.  But, God made the tree perfect in its design and purpose.  God is perfect in all of His inner qualities.  Some of these are listed in Ps. 27.  God is light.  Light is essential to life and without it, there would be no life.  God is the source of all light which is the source of all life.  God is salvation.  He is a deliverer from that which harms and destroys.  God is strength.  He is power and might.  As a matter of fact, He is all-powerful.  He has the ability to accomplish and to bring His Word to full fruition.  God is truth.  God cannot lie.  God is just and true.  His justice rests upon His truth because without truth there is no justice.  God is good.  God’s acts are always good.  His creative acts are very good. His redemptive acts are good (right in themselves and beneficial for us).  Some of the qualities are mentioned in Ps. 90.  God is a refuge.  Safety and peace are found with Him and in Him.  God is eternal.  He is self-existing and timeless.  Thus, He is uncreated.  God is merciful.  God is relational and His relationship with people is based upon His mercy and grace.  Without such qualities of God, we could not live in spiritual relationship with God.  The perfection of God is the harmony of all of the characteristic that are intrinsic to His nature.  These characteristic do not conflict with one another nor do they negate one another.
The Beauty of Holiness
Holiness as it applies to God is sinless perfection or moral perfection.  It is freedom from all forms and vestiges of evil.  This produces the following negatives:  (1) God cannot lie; (2) God cannot tempt human beings to sin; and (3) God cannot do evil. God is pure in heart.  He is free from any evil thoughts or intents that would lead to sin.  This means that God is righteous.  God is true to Himself and His nature and cannot contradict Himself in word and deed. Thus, His Word bears this characteristic of holiness (I Tim. 3:15).
The Beauty of Mind
The genius of the mind of God can be seen in the created universe and in the riches of His wisdom in His Word.  The design of the created universe displays the genius of God.  Ps. 19:1-6, “The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament sheweth his handywork.  Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.  Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.  In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.  His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.”  The creation of the universe and everything in it (Ex. 20:11) displays God’s vast knowledge of all the intracacies of the inter-relatedness of created things and of life itself.  This knowledge and the result of His creative power are too wonderful for us to comprehend in fullness.  The sun, moon and stars govern time as we know it.  They govern travel, planting, harvest, the seasons and so forth.  Animal life including their brains and bodies and human life including their bodies and souls manifest His glory.   Every human being is created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26,27).  Man’s intellect, emotions, power of volition, conscience and spiritual inclinations are revealed in this creative design.  There is a clear distinction between animals and human beings.  God loves the humans He created and desires to live in covenant relationship with them.  This is not true of the animal world.  By studying the created world, we can come to know the wisdom of God.  Wisdom is incite into the way things really are (reality itself) and how they work and the ends for which they were designed.  God has also revealed Himself through His holy Word.  God’s wisdom in inherent in His Word.  His Word has been revealed and written to inform the mind of humans of the excellent majesty and glory of God.  God’s Word is truth (John 17:17).  Truth accomplishes two things:  (1) It saves (James 1:21) and (2) It sanctifies (John 17:17).  Thus, God’s Word guides the human soul in its journey to heaven.
The Beauty of Oneness
The Godhead is comprised of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Mt. 28:19).  There are three distinct persons in one divine essence or spiritual reality.  The three are one.  “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believers that Jesus is the Son of God?  This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood.  And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.  For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, The Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.  And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.  If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.”  (I John 5:5-9). The Triune God is three distinct persons in one undivided essence or essential spiritual being.  God is a spirit (John 4:24).  A spirit is not limited by time or space.  This is how oneness results.  Jesus proclaimed that He and the Father were one (John 10:30).  We accept this knowledge God has revealed and believe it is true.  All of the perfections of the Triune God are manifested in each person of the godhead.  Omnipotence, omniscience, omnibenevolence, indeed, all of the perfections of deity belong to each person in the godhead.  This the God that created all things.  This is the God that is sovereign over all of His creation.  This is the God that we love and worship.  This is the God that will judge us in the last day.
The earth is filled with the glory of the LORD.  This is the beauty of the LORD.  Let us celebrate that glory as we discover it and fill our minds and hearts with wonder!

God evokes a sense of wonder for many reasons related to His nature, power, and mighty acts.  The wonder of God is: “inquisitive awe in search of an understanding of all of the perfections of His excellent majesty.”  In Hebrews 12:29, the Holy Spirit declares, “Our God is a consuming fire.”  The figure is graphic–a raging fire consumes everything in its path.  It is a destructive force.  It is a power to destroy.  This phrase is a reference to the unleashing of the power of God against the forces of evil, sin, and sinners.  It captures the essence of the punitive power of God.  In Revelation 14:10, God’s Word affirms, “The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.” Such is the fate of the person who worships the beast and his image (v. 9).  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God! (Heb. 10:26-31).
God’s Revelation Of Himself
In Exodus 19 and 20, the LORD reveals Himself to Israel.  Israel (the nation) was encamped at the foot of Mt. Sinai.  God had just delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage.  He did this through the ten plagues brought against the Egyptians and by destroying Pharaoh’s army in the midst of the Red Sea.  God now wants to reveal His Covenant Will to the people.  He commands Moses to make preparations.  Moses is to set boundaries at the foot of the mountain that would permit the people to approach but not go up into the mount (19:12).  The people were required to sanctify themselves (wash themselves and their clothes).  They were not to engage in sexual contact with their wives (19:15).  On the third day, in the morning, there were thunderings and lightenings and a thick cloud upon the mount.  The people heard the voice of the trumpet (Ram’s horn) exceeding loud.  All of the people in the camp trembled (19:16).  When the LORD descended upon the mount, the whole mount was on fire and the smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly (19:18).  God’s presence revealed His fearsomeness.  The result was that the people feared greatly.  In our quest to know God, we must understand His fearsomeness and His wrath.  The people, including the priests, were required to sanctify themselves before approaching God.   They were restricted in their approach to the mount.  Beginning in Exodus 20:1, God spake to them all the words of the covenant He desired to make with them.  God identified Himself in an unmistakable way–as the God who had delivered them from Egyptian bondage.  Then, He commanded them to have no other gods before Him (20:3).  Nor to make unto themselves any grave images, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  God forbade them from bowing down to them or serving them.  God proceeded to give them the rest of the Ten Commandments.  The people did not want God to speak to them directly. They asked Moses to intercede in their behalf with God.  God gave commands to the people of Israel to honor Him as the only true and living God.  God will not share His glory with another.  The present covenant relationship with God is to be informed by His past mighty acts against the Egyptians.  God was revealing Himself to His people.  Know and understand that the LORD thy God is a fearsome God!
The Fear of the LORD
The people of Israel feared and trembled at the presence of God on the Mount.  Fear is the emotional response of the human heart to the display of the fearsomeness of God.  Fear produces restraint within the human heart from disobeying God and facing His wrath.  God’s wrath is His justice manifested in righteous judgments.  God possesses punitive power which is directed toward the defeat and destruction of evil in all of its forms.  The people said, “All that the LORD hath spoken will we do” (19:8).  Moses told the people that God came to prove them and that His fear may be before their eyes so that they would not sin (Ex. 20:20).  Moses clearly indicates the reason God revealed His fearsomeness.  God desired obedience to His commands.  The fear of the LORD produces compliance to the Will of God.  Solomon states that the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep His commandments (Eccl. 12:13).  The absence of the fear of the LORD will certainly lead to the proliferation of evil in the hearts of human beings.   The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom (Prov. 1:7).  Just as Israel pledged to keep the commandments of God, the wise man today hears and keeps the sayings of the LORD Jesus Christ (Mt. 7:24,25).  Jesus taught us to fear God, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Mt. 10:28).

The wonder of God can be defined as: “inquisitive awe in the pursuit of an understanding of all of the perfections of God that comprise His magnificence.”  Anthropological wonder is the wonder of God as seen in His creation of human beings.  In Ps. 139:14, “…I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”  A human being, created in the image of God, is a cause for inquisitive awe.  What does being created in the image of God tell us about ourselves?  Human beings alone sustain a unique relationship to deity.  We are created “in His image” and “in His likeness” (Gen. 1:26,27).
The Creation of Humanity is Unique.
The divine Godhead is involved in the creation of human beings.  Humans are not the product of blind change and randomness as affirmed by biological evolutionists.  People are not an evolutionary accident.  We are created with divine intent and purpose.  God who is eternal, self-existing,  and infinite in all of His perfections brought into being a human being that is both physical and spiritual in nature and so, created and finite.  The superiority of God and sovereignty of God over His creature–man–is expressed in this relationship between the Creator and the creature.  God is a person and He has created human beings in such a way that they can have a relationship with Him.  Human beings are person too!  Human beings reflect God’s presence in the world and are evidence that God exists by virtue of the fact that they are created in His image.  No other part of God’s creation has this distinction.  This separates human beings from animals and all other forms of life.  God expressly forbids idols made of wood, stone, silver, or gold as the means of bearing His image.  All idolatry is strictly forbidden by God.  Human beings were given dominion over the earth and all other living things.  They are the crown of God’s creation.  God created them male and female.  Both male and female bear the image of God.  Sexual identity/gender identity is God-given and part of the design of God for human reproduction.  This is part of the created order and is being contradicted by those who suffer from gender dysphoria and choose to contradict God’s created design.  Human beings are dualistic in nature and consist of an “outer man” (physical in nature) and an “inner man” (spiritual in nature).  The physical body is a wonder.  The soul of man, intimately bound to the body, is given by God at conception and together, body and soul, make up a human being.  The fact that human beings possess a soul is another reason for the distinction between humans and animals.
In His Image
There are several aspects of humans that indicate that they bear God’s image.  First, humans have intellectual likeness to God.  In Ps. 139:1-6, David affirms that God is all-knowing.  Humans have intelligence (Job. 35:11), but are not infinite in knowledge.  Humans know more than the beasts of the field or the fowls of the air.  The powers of rational thought possessed by humans are part of the image of God.  Animals do not reason.  They function on the basis of instinct.  No animal has ever written a book!  Second, bearing the image of God means that there is a moral likeness to God.  God is holy (Isa. 6:1-3).  God is love (I John 4:8,16).  Humans are moral creatures.  The spirit of a human being is manifested in conscious thought, self-awareness, and self-reflection.  We have a conscience–a moral arbiter or umpire that either approves or disapproves of words and actions taken by us.  Animals are not moral creatures.  Humans are morally responsible to God because God created us.  God through various covenants has expressed His will in laws that He ordains.  This power to make laws is an expression of God’s sovereignty.  Human beings have always been accountable to God according to the covenant that they lived under at the time of their human sojourn on the earth.  God’s laws constitute objective moral laws.  These laws are recognized universally.  For instance, it is universally understood that murder and rape are wrong (sinful because they violate God’s laws).  Third, being created in the image of God means that humans have volition or the power to choose.  Responsibility to God implies the ability to respond by choice to either obey God or disobey Him.  Volitionality is essential to morality.  God possesses free-will.  God chooses and no one tells God what to do (Rom. 11:34).  “Who hath known the mind of the LORD, or who hath been his counsellor?”  Human beings have free-will.  All sin is the result of choice (James 1:14-15).  Love is a matter of choice.  If there is no free-will, there can be no love!  God desires that we obey Him because we love Him (Mt. 22:36-39; John 14:15, 23).  God is love and He has created humans with the power to love Him and others.  Love is the greatest human virtue (I Cor. 13:13).  If love were properly understood and applied, it would solve most, if not all, of the social problems facing humans today (I Cor. 13).
Truly God has created human beings with such distinction that it inspires wonder.  What is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou visiteth him?  (Ps. 8:4).  We marvel at how God has created us.  He made us in His image.  We have a created order and design that reflects God’s wisdom and power.  Using our minds, hearts and wills, we can established a spiritual and covenantal relationship with God following the terms and conditions of the New Testament (the law of Christ) and enjoy fellowship with God.  We can prepare to live with God eternally which is the reason He created us (Rev. 4:11, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created”).

Our English word worship means worthship and denotes the worthiness of an individual or being to receive special honor in accordance with that worth or value.  The principle Hebrew and Greek words indicate an act of obesience which is divine honors paid to deity.  Since there is only one, true and living God, there is only one deity worthy of worship (Matt. 4:10, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve”).  No injury to God compares with the denial of His uniqueness and the transfer to another of the recognition that belongs to Him.  Any perversion of worship is Satan’s avid effort to secure to himself what belongs to God alone (Matt. 4:9).  Worship involves praise and prayer directed to God and the offer of sacrificial gifts that honor Him and glorify His name.  Worship is generally an act of God’s people who desire to draw nigh unto Him and honor Him for His uniqueness, greatness, and goodness.
Psalm 95
This effort is clearly present in Psalm 95.  Psalm 95 was written by David (Heb. 4:7).  The Psalm is referenced twice in Hebrews, i.e. 3:7 and 4:7.  In both contexts, the Psalm is referenced to warn and encourage the saints to faithfulness to God by maintaining a close relationship with God through divine acts of worship. That faithfulness to God will result in the heavenly rest.
The Invitation (Psa. 95:1-2).
“O Come….” is an invitation inciting to join heart and lips in praise to God.  This is worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).  Without the engagement of the heart, the acts of worship are vain.  The invitation contains an exhortation.  Let us is repeated several times. The phrase indicates unity and it is defining worship that is corporate.  Let us sing unto the LORD. Let us make a joyful noise unto the Rock of our salvation.  Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving.  Let us make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms. Notice that the call to worship also contains the means of accomplishing it.  Worship brings us into the presence of God.  As an act of devotion to Him, it manifests our love for Him.  Worship is one way in which we love God supremely (Matt. 22:36-38).
The Grounds (Psa. 95:3-5).
The LORD is a great God.  He is unsurpassed in all of His perfections.  The greatness of God is seen in His creative power.  The LORD is unique and stands above all other gods.  The idols of man are pure vanity (I Cor. 8:4).  In His hands are: the deep places of the earth, the heights of the hills, the sea and the dry lands.  Truly, God is the creator of all things (Exodus 20:11).  This includes humanity.  Yes, we owe our very existence to Him (Acts 17:28).  As our Creator, He alone is worthy of our worship and devotion.  We worship because of who God is!  I know that worship is something that God desires for His people to do, but we do not worship merely because God has commanded it.  We worship because we know God.  We worship because we love God.  We worship because we cannot restrain our soul from crying out in honor of His name.
The Invitation Repeated (Psa. 95:6).
“O, come…” is repeated.  Let us worship and bow down.  This defines worship as an act of great humility.  In worship to God, we have a sense of our own unworthiness.  Let us kneel before our Maker.  Only from a position of deep humility would we even think of approaching God.
The Grounds Continued (Psa. 95:7).
For He is our God and we our His people.  This phrase indicates covenant relationship with God brought about by His lovingkindness.  Only God can save.  In the act of saving us, God redeems us to Himself and consequently, we belong to Him.  He is our God and we our His people.  We worship God because we are in covenant relationship with God.  David wrote while under the covenant God made with Israel through Moses.  However, we live under a better covenant that Jesus has made possible through the power of His blood (Heb. 9:14-15; Heb. 8:1-13).  The covenant of Christ reveals both grace and truth that is available to all people.  Only those who respond to God’s love by loving Him back participate in the blessings and promises of the New Covenant (John 14:23).  If those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ do not worship God, then, who?  Any substitution for God is an act of unbelief and this unbelief will keep us from the heavenly rest.
An Admonition (Psa. 95:8-11).
David warned against hardening one’s heart against God.  The writer of Hebrews quotes from Psa. 95 in Heb. 3:7 and 4:7 in order to emphasize this warning to his readers.  The human heart is hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Heb. 3:11-12).  The author makes a historical comparison.  Remember the provocation in the wilderness!  The period of Wilderness Wanderings lasted forty years.  During this period of time, God’s people tested Him and provoked Him.  They saw His works but did not believe.  As a result, they faced His wrath.  God was grieved with them forty years.  He said it is a people that do err in their hearts.  He said they have not known my ways.  He swore in His wrath that they should not enter into His rest.  They missed the promised land because of unbelief.  Likewise, the saints of God today, can manifest unfaithfulness to God by worshiping idols and fail to enter into the heavenly rest.  We worship God as a manifestation of our faithfulness to Him because of who He is and what He has done for us in giving us physical life as our Creator and saving us through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Summary:
Worship brings God and His people into oneness.  Worship flows from a heart that is fully aware of who God is and what He has done in creative and redemptive acts.  Worship is manifested in human hearts who are in covenant relationship with God and who love God deeply.  Worship is expressed in praise and prayer directed to God.  Worship involves the whole person, body and soul, in devotion to God.  Worship enhances faithfulness to God.  Worship binds us to the heart of God and is an expression of the wonder we experience in His presence and the value that we ascribe to Him that is worthy.

What inspires worship to God?  There may be many answers, but one of the best is wonder, awe, and excitement when contemplating God and His marvelous works.  Wonder is the antidote to boredom in worship.  Boredom in worship is an insult to the soul and may be due to a loss of wonder in the power and presence of God.
Wonder is lost when God is forgotten.  Wonder is lost when God is not loved supremely and we attempt to serve more than one Master.  Wonder is lost when the cares of the world extinguish desire for God.  Wonder is lost when sin invades the soul.  Wonder is lost when spiritual growth is neglected.  When wonder is lost, worship dies.
David possessed a sense of wonder that ignites worship.  Consider his thought in Psa. 139:14-16, “I will praise thee: for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.  My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”
David Possessed a Sense of Wonder at God’s Marvelous Works.
He considers his own development in the womb and his own body which is due to the creative power of God.  He declares, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”  Fearfully refers to that property in an object the contemplation of which excites fear in the beholder.  As he examines his own body, mind and spirit, he is filled with fear of the One who designed it and created it.  The word wonderfully indicates the skill and wisdom used to create.  The human body is a work of art produced by the hand of an all-wise and all-powerful God.  Proper reflection upon these facts create wonder in us.
David Desired to Worship God as a Result of the Wonder in His Heart.
“I will praise thee.”  God is to be praised for His marvelous works.  When we contemplate God’s work in creation and God’s work in redemption, we are thrilled by His wisdom, power, love and goodness.  God’s glory is manifested in all of these aspects of His being.  Worship is homage paid to deity.  In our worship, we glorify our maker and our redeemer.  The doctrine of creation has a direct bearing upon our adoration, praise and devotion to God.  We are humbled in the presence of God.  By humility we surrender to Him.  We are purged of our pride.  We feel our own unworthiness.  God knows us in minute detail.  Before His scrutiny we shrink back.  We cannot hide from His presence.  Let us enter into His holy presence with fear and wonder.
When we truly know God and understand the wonders He has wrought, we will be filled with awe and  we will desire to come before Him in worship. What about boredom?  It vanishes when we enter into the presence of God’s glory with wonder!