Psalm 95:6-11
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 7 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, 8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways." 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest."
This psalm speaks a warning that "if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts" (verses 7-8). The fact is that we have heard God's voice, for we know His command to be pure. So how will we respond to that? Will we change or will we harden our hearts and refuse or ignore what God commands? The Israelites chose to harden their hearts, and as a result they did not enter the promised land. When we struggle with habitual sin, we must beware of hardening our hearts. The antidote is to "worship and bow down" (verse 6), and to "hear His voice" (verse 7). That is, to acknowledge our relationship: He is God, we are His people (verse 7), and to enter into that relationship by listening to Him.
Lord, help me to hear Your voice and not harden my heart.
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 7 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, 8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways." 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest."
This psalm speaks a warning that "if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts" (verses 7-8). The fact is that we have heard God's voice, for we know His command to be pure. So how will we respond to that? Will we change or will we harden our hearts and refuse or ignore what God commands? The Israelites chose to harden their hearts, and as a result they did not enter the promised land. When we struggle with habitual sin, we must beware of hardening our hearts. The antidote is to "worship and bow down" (verse 6), and to "hear His voice" (verse 7). That is, to acknowledge our relationship: He is God, we are His people (verse 7), and to enter into that relationship by listening to Him.
Lord, help me to hear Your voice and not harden my heart.