"Today, if you hear His Voice..." Psalm 95

Do you hear God's voice?

Sojourning through the Psalms in recent months--especially from Psalm 90 and forward--I've discovered some wonderful treasures.   Most of these I've tucked away in a leather-covered notebook received years ago from East-West Ministries.

The Scriptures often stun me, because they openly speak of  experiences considered normal, things today we don't normally experience.  Isn't that odd?

Why are we not experiencing what Scriptures describe as something to be expected?

GOD'S VOICE: then, and now

Hearing God's voice is one of those things.   Psalm 95, for example, after calling for songs for the Lord's ears coming from a posture of humble worship, exhorts, "Today, if you hear God's voice, do not harden your hearts [as your forefathers did]."

This song, prompted by the Spirit through the pen of an unnamed Israelite, was written hundreds of years after the incident it cites: the choice of heart-hardening by the congregation in the wilderness of Sin just after the exodus from Egypt.  Rescued from brutal slavery, God's people began complaining at God, charging Him with a lack of understanding about their situation and a lack of care (i.e., not enough water).   In fact, this happened twice, in Exodus 17 and again in Numbers 20.

Centuries later, the Psalmist urges his contemporaries to understand that (1) God continues to speak in a way that can be heard, and (2) as they hear God's voice, that a heart-hardening like that which was chosen by forefathers should not be chosen now.

This begs two questions today.  First, do we hear God's voice?  And second, when we do, how do we order the posture of our hearts?

Unless I'm getting this wrong, the first experience should be normal, and our response should be purposeful.

GOD'S LONGING:  then, and now

Over and over again, Scripture reveals a God who loves to speak and longs to be trusted.  One who will prove faithful when people hear and believe.

Centuries back (i.e., around B.C. 1450), most of God's people -- the people of His pasture -- heard the Voice but hardened the heart.  Psalm 95 remembers God's assessment:  they are a people that go astray in their hearts and thus, they have not known My ways (cf. Psalm 95:10).  Strikingly, God admits that "I loathed that generation" (of His people).

Whew!  God disgusted with an entire generation of His redeemed people, and as a consequence, He pledged out of His righteous wrath, "They shall not enter my rest" (i.e., the promised land of Canaan).

Are we too casual with God's voice today?  Are we listening for it?  Or are our hearts too astray to be attuned to a Divine communication, too disinterested in God's ways to be bothered?

The consequence, back then and perhaps today, is to not experience the promised rest of God which follows hearing, following, and obeying.

A PLEA

God is a communicator.  He speaks, and we have ears that can listen.  Remember the spiritually off-line hearts of the ancient Israelites.  Refuse to recapitulate their experience.

Today, if you hear His voice, sing to the Lord, bow down before your Maker and the Rock of your Salvation.    Head where He points you.  Enter His rest.