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. Today, if only you would hear his voice, “Do not harden your hearts… – Psa. 95:6-8 NIV
Do Not Harden Your Heart_24022021
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The reference psalm from which the text for today’s devotional has been extracted is a psalm that the writer of Hebrews attributes to King David – Heb. 4:7. It is mainly a psalm highlighting the greatness of the Almighty God and why He is deserving of all the worship, praise and thanks that men should give Him.
The opening two verses are basically an invitation to all people to come and join in praise and worship of the Most High God referring to Him in the process as the Rock of our salvation and demanding that He be extolled with music and songs. There is indeed no doubt that Yahweh is the unmovable foundation of our being saved from the imminent destruction that sin always brings into our lives. King David in the Psalm invited all to bow down to worship and kneel before the Lord who is the creator of the whole universe – Psa. 95:1-2; 6-7a. This according to him, is because the Almighty God is our god and we are the people of his pasture. Furthermore, He is the great god, the great king amongst all gods and He it is that created all things on earth, in depth of the earth, on the mountains, in the seas and the dry lands – Psa. 95:3-5.
It is based on all the above qualities that King David advises all people in today’s foundation scripture not to harden their hearts when His Call is heard as it may lead to loss of peace and rest like in the case of the Israelites whom He led out of Egypt with the intention of bringing them into his rest, but could not make it because they had hardened hearts.
Could that be the reason why you are not experiencing peace of mind despite all your claims to worshipping Him as a Christian? It is very likely because He considers not heeding to His instructions as affront and dis-respect, both being acts that He will not tolerate.
The text consists of two major parts as follows;
- The conditionality that surrounds hearing Him. King David knows that it is not everyone that has the ability to hear Him so he used the conditional word “if”. It is very important for Christians to position themselves in a manner that they can hear Him. God is Spirit and those who desire to hear Him must operate in spirit. Inability to operate at this level of communication will make it impossible for anyone to hear Him. Even when someone who is able to hear him is relating His message, it may still be difficult to assimilate the content of the message if the individual who hears the message does not have the right spiritual ability to process and subsequently understand it. Only the deep can call to deep – Psa. 42:7. Spiritual ability for the Christian comes from the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Whoever intends to hear the Lord very well must have the Holy Spirit which remains the only medium of communication with Him.
- The need not to harden one’s heart. To harden one’s heart is a way of saying that such an individual makes up his/her mind not to obey the content of the instructions received even when its contents are well understood. It is a deliberate act done out of self conviction that he/she will be right not to follow such directives that he/she is sure is from the Lord. It is no doubt an act of disrespect to the personality of the Most High that the one who He created has chosen to ignore His directive. This is not just disobedience, but also an act of insubordination to the Lord with the intention to declare independence. It is an act not too far from what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. The psalmist is in no doubt that such will not only remain in his/her tribulations but will need to answer to the Lord for such acts with the expectation of severe penalties.
Examine your ways carefully and assure yourself that you are not deliberately playing deaf to His instructions or not deliberately ignoring him. Should it be that you have been hardening your heart, the repercussions of such decision may just be what you are experiencing and the only solution will be for you make the right decision to turn around and acknowledge that you have erred by disrespecting Him. Ask Him for forgiveness in addition to the ability to start hearing from Him. Make up your mind to always do His bidding and you will be on the path to recovery and peace of mind. May God help you to take the right steps that will bring you peace in this world and in the world to come in Jesus name. Amen.
Great delivery. Solid arguments. Keep up the
good spirit.
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