"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 will hear His voice;
Do not harden your hearts,
as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness...
Psalm 95:6-8
Remember this sign that I posted not too long ago , when I told you about my One Word for 2017..."REST"...and also in conjunction with that I am in the process of creating a "Secret Garden" for a place of prayer, meditation on God's Word, and REST?I couldn't help but think about this sign when I read the above scripture from Psalm 95 during our morning devotions today. Interestingly, this same scripture is quoted again in Hebrews 3:7-14...and it seems to me that it is a message that the Lord wanted to drive home to me since both passages were a part of the proscribed readings for today.
It would appear that we are very prone to allowing our hearts to become hardened when we are overwrought with concerns, anxieties, lack of rest, and possibly even a bit rebellious. We may even say that we are okay, and that we don't need to rest... like a little child who is in desperate need of a nap...we might be in denial and become touchy, grumpy and downright irritable. When we don't allow ourselves time to rest...and time to actually say...
"Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker"
and when we neglect our time of personal meditation on God's Word, times of worship and praise and literally bowing down, kneeling in prayer before the Lord, then it doesn't take much to become hardened in our hearts. Our spirit then easily becomes hard and bitter because we have neglected to soften it with the soothing balm of God's tender words of love, comfort and grace.
Notice again what the Psalmist says in verse 7:
"Today, if you will HEAR HIS VOICE..."
How can we "Hear His voice", unless we are listening? And how can we listen, unless we deliberately set aside a time to tune in to God's voice...by reading and meditating on His Word, worshiping Him with adoration and praise, and giving the Lord the glory due His name?
So that's where I want to be...tuning in to Jesus...listening for His voice...every moment of the day He could be speaking...speaking through His Word, speaking through family members and/or the people we meet throughout the day...speaking through you, my friends here in blogland and beyond...speaking through nature and His beautiful creation...
Are you listening for God's Voice? He's speaking to YOU as well! Take a moment and just listen. You may be amazed at what you will hear.
