Asaph began this psalm by encouraging everyone at the church service to sing and praise God. Every church service should begin that way. We should make a habit of including the congregation in at least participating in 50% of the worship service. Worship is not a spectator event; yet, in many churches that is what it has become. That takes up verses 1-5A.
The second part of the psalm begins with, “I heard an unknown voice say”. Whose voice was it? I believe it was the voice of God the Holy Spirit. There are voices that speak to us from the spirit world. Satan or one of his minions will whisper in our ear, “How can you claim to be a Christian when you commit sins like that”. Or, he might say, “It’s alright to do that, God doesn’t care”. Both of those are lies, but it is so easy to fall for them. Listening to those lies is why we don’t see blessings in our life. But God does not speak to us like that. In the first instance, God doesn’t condemn us when we sin; He simply asks us to repent. In the second instance, when we have doubts about doing something we think may be wrong, God does care. He wants us to pray and search His word before we commit to it.
The second instance fills up the rest of this psalm. God had warned Israel not to worship false gods. When the people reached Mt. Sinai, God gave them the Ten Commandments with the first one being don’t worship false gods. This is the longest commandment and the one with the most severe punishment if broken. (see Exodus 20:3-6) Read 1 Kings 11 to see what happened to King Solomon. Breaking this commandment is also the reason God allowed the Babylonian Captivity. In this psalm, God has Asaph write about what the differences are when we worship only God or we turn to false idols.