In the Wilderness, Part 2

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Good Morning!


Yesterday morning, we continued our series In the Wilderness, looking at Israel's wanderings from Egypt to the Promised Land. Specifically, we looked at Exodus 17:1-7, and how the Psalmist applied it in Psalm 95. [Incidentally, Hebrews applies Psalm 95 in chapters 3 and 4, which means that preaching on Hebrews 3 and 4 would be a sermon about a sermon about a sermon about Exodus 17.]


We saw that the people of Israel were faced with a choice. Part of the problem was that it didn't look much like a choice to them. To them it looked like they were running out of water (again!), and so they started complaining and accusing Moses of leading them to die in the desert.


Their real problem, though, was that they were hard-hearted. They just carried on as normal and hadn't let anything that God had done for them over the last 3 months or so affect their hearts. If they had been soft-hearted towards God, then they would have looked at the plagues, the Red Sea, the Passover, the twice already he'd provided them with water (Ex 15) and the daily provision of manna and one-off provision of quail (Ex 16). They'd have seen that God provided for them and cared for them; they'd have let his love change their hearts, and they'd have started to trust him. As it was, they doubted whether he was even with them (Ex 17:7).


Psalm 95 uses this as an example of all the times when we hear God's voice, or when we find ourselves in difficult situations. Hard times, like when the Israelites were running out of water, are a great opportunity to grow in our faith through trusting God. But they're also dangerous times, because if we harden our hearts then we will be led away from God, and for the Israelites that meant eventually that they did not enter into the Promised Land.


How then can we avoid being hard-hearted? One way is through asking God to soften our hearts. He promises by his Spirit to give us hearts of flesh instead of stone (Ezekiel 26:25-28). The Psalmist's solution, which is connected, is to praise and worship God. Psalm 95 is perhaps most famous as a call to worship (e.g. in the BCP's Morning Prayer service). Shouting for joy to the Lord, singing his praises and encouraging each other daily, even when we don't feel like it, is a great way of refocussing ourselves on God, on remembering who he is and all the great things he has done for us. Full-hearted worship is the antidote to hard-heartedness, because it leads to joyful surrender to God (Ps 95:6-7).


Today, when we hear God's voice, let us not be hard-hearted, but let us worship him in Spirit and truth, and follow in his ways!

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