I Wonder

Psalm 95

“Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; 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.  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, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.  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.” Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”

I wonder how many who attend church services are in denial about their relationship with Jesus Christ.  My reasoning for saying this was supported by a book, I read from Craig Groeschel titled “The Christian Atheist” now that sounds like an oxymoron, but it goes on to state; 

“Believing in God but Living as if He Doesn’t Exist.”  

With that, shall we move on to the verses in bold, and we find God’s chosen people getting their needs met outside of God’s commands and desires for His people.  Many of us who are followers of Christ also at time lean to our own understanding, (depend on self and not Christ.)   When the people of Israel followed Moses into a wilderness, God showed them He would protect them and supply their needs, and I’m sure they were happy God allowed Moses to be used to part the Red Sea, and keep them from being slain, and to freedom, but they had a short memory.  I’m wondering do we also have a concise recall of what God has done and is doing in our lives?  But they wanted what they wanted and were always complaining, never thankful just a significant pain.  It proves that the old is forever new, for are we not living in that culture, and has it not crept into the Church?

The group that left Egypt with the exception of Caleb and Joshua was never allowed into Canaan, (the Promised Land).  I often wonder what an ungrateful attitude has cost us, followers of Christ?  This is the bottom line; “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice