#DailyDevotion You Only Have Today To Hear God’s Word & Believe It
Heb. 3 7And so, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear Him speak, 8don’t harden your hearts as it happened when the people provoked Me at the time they tested Me in the desert, 9where your fathers put Me to a test when for forty years they saw what I could do. 10That was why I was angry with those people, and I said: ‘In their hearts they’re always going astray and haven’t learned My ways.’ 11So, because I was angry, I swore that they will never come to My place of rest!”
Hebrews quotes here Psalm 95. It is a psalm about worship. We sing it in the liturgy of Morning Prayer. This is important as in verse 11 and in following verses he will speak of the “place of rest” and the “Sabbath.” It is used today by Jews for their Sabbath worship. So let us keep this worship aspect in mind as we read through this part of Hebrews.
The invitation to worship is at the beginning of the psalm. Having gathered the Holy Spirit speaks to those gathered to worship. The voice that is heard is the voice of God. That voice of God is Jesus Christ, the very Word of God. He only speaks what the Father has given Him to speak. As chapter 1 reminds us, Jesus is greater than the prophets. He is the voice of the Father.
Jesus speaks to us today in the written word of His testimony and through the pastors He gifts us with. When the pastor speaks Jesus’ word it is not his word but Jesus’ word. We get to hear that word today. “Today” will come back up in a few more verses. It is good for us to remember all we have is today to hear God’s word. We are not guaranteed we will have that word tomorrow for either our time may be up tomorrow or He may remove that word from us if we did not take heed today to listen to it.
So today do not harden your hearts like the people of Israel did to the LORD in the wilderness. They put the LORD to the test many times. First, they did not listen to the LORD when He told them to take the land He promised them. In fear of men, they disobeyed the LORD. At that time, He swore they would not enter the Promised Land. They would wander the wilderness for forty years until that generation died out.
During that time in the wilderness, they continually did not trust the LORD to take care of them. Instead of praying in faith for the things needed for daily bread, they grumbled agains Moses and against the LORD. They did not believe the LORD was with them. Even though they saw the miracles in Egypt, walked through the Red Sea on dry ground and saw the Egyptian army swept away, saw the glory on the mountain and heard God’s voice, were supplied with manna and quail, they did not believe the LORD was with them.
So do not anger the LORD like the Israelites did in the wilderness. They did not believe the promises of the LORD. Jesus has made a promise of the free forgiveness of sins, the gift of eternal life, and the promise of the Father taking care of our daily needs. He has promised the Father will hear us when we pray in His name. Do not doubt His promises. Live your life trusting these promises are true. Don’t disqualify yourself from entering the promised New Heavens and New Earth where righteousness dwells.
Merciful God and Father, always give us the gift of faith so when You speak to us through Your Son Jesus Christ, we listen, heart, trust and obey from the heart Your great and marvelous promises. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.