Trying to discern the voice of God is often difficult. We
yearn for a present voice, something tangible to assure us that God is indeed
alive. In the history of Christian thought and practice, discerning the voice
of God has been conceived of as starting with the present, dynamic voice of
Scripture. In Hebrews 3:7-19 the author begins by indicating “As the Holy Spirit says…” then he quotes
Psalm 95:8-11. The writer of Hebrews envisions Psalms being a living word in
which the Spirit speaks in the present moment. This is the unique feature of
Scripture…the breathing, alive word of God.
But, today we need to hear his voice and soften our hearts.
The writer says, “Do not harden your hearts.” I suspect that none of us can
ever conceive of ourselves as having a hardened heart. I am sure that none of
the people of Israel thought of themselves that way. However, when we do not
believe that God will take care of us, and we go off on our own highways paved
with personal agenda and lack of trust in God, then it puts the Lord to the
test and it makes him angry. I wonder how many times I have made God angry?
This is specifically with reference to Israel’s day of
testing in the wilderness at Meribah and Massah. Water and bread were promised
and Israel did not believe it, and griped when it came! God’s provisions were
thrown back in his face. No wonder he became angry!
This was in spite of the fact that they had seen the Lord’s
works for forty years. During those forty years they experienced God’s
guidance, care, love, faithfulness, provisions, etc. But this background of
God’s relationship with Israel was forgotten. I wonder how many times we tend
to forget the background God has with us? We forget our own forty years of
provisions, and begin to fret, complain and forget God is in the picture.
If I believe I hear God’s voice,
then I need to be faithful to responding to His call through the Holy Spirit in
Scripture to trust God implicitly and deeply. God promises me today that He
will provide all I need. Bread, water, a place to live, a purpose to pursue,
and a God to obey provides the simple parameters of faithfulness. I need to be
courageous enough to ask my own self, am I in danger of hardening my heart
against the Lord God because I have come to the place of lack of trust in Him?
Let us take care, brothers and
sisters, that none of us live with an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away
from the living God! Today, if you hear His voice, open your heart to Him and
to others!
This injunction to hear the voice
of God has a very pertinent application for God’s church leaders, ministers,
pastors and priests. Too often we leaders make it about making sure that others
follow what we perceive to be the voice of God precisely because we are the
leaders. This pericope in Hebrews calls that paradigm into question. It is so
easy for leaders to harden their hearts—toward God and toward others. We create
the ministry or the church in our own image, thereby losing the ability to see
and trust in God’s provisions. We then rely upon our own strength,
understanding, savvy, power and position to get accomplished what we want.
We fret, we complain, and we forget
that the kingdom is about God, not about us! We also forget how God has
provided our own “forty years” of provisions to remain in ministry. I think all
of us leaders would be shocked if we could actually know many times we have
made God angry because we produced our own experiences of Meribah and Massah
all in the name of faithful ministry. When in reality, all we did was to turn a
blind eye to God’s provisions of water and bread, and guidance.
Take care,
ministers/pastors/priests/leaders, that none of you may have an evil,
unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God!
In Christian love, Curtis
