let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness ...
Psalm 95:1-8
So what are we to do? The writer of Hebrews provides the answers in chapters 3&4.
Chapter 3, verse 1, "Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in ra heavenly calling, consider Jesus, sthe apostle and high priest of our confession." Fix our eyes on Jesus. He is the Truth. Part of this of course is reading the Word but that is not the whole of it. As Iggy is routinely reminding us, only in Jesus will we find the whole truth because only He is the Truth.
The writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 95 four times in chapters 3&4. He repeats in verse 7 the phrase, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." In verse 10 he writes, "Therefore I [God] was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.'" Today, few people really know God. Of those, many work to know His will (i.e., study Scripture), some work to know His ways (i.e., experience Him), far too far wrestle for both.
What are we to do? He 3.12ff, "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “ Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that mthey were unable to enter because of unbelief."
It is "today". God wants you to hear Him and to not fall into unbelief. Many today are working hard to teach you that He has nothing to say. Hear Him and obey all that He commands. The promise of entering into His rest still stands (He 4.1). We must combine the message of the Gospel with faith and approach the throne of grace with confidence. There we receive mercy and find grace. There we will experience the sweet communion of our Lord.
Listen, the word of God is living and active.
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