I am doing my morning scripture reading on Sanibel Island, Florida. I have had problem maintaining my spiritual discipline whenever I travel. It seems that I can be easily distracted by a new routine. Not that I feel I deserve "a break" for I really do treasure my time alone with the Lord listening to His voice through His word, it's just that my regular routine is broken. Oh that I long for a permanent home where I will "dwell in the house of the Lord forever" (Psalm 23:6).
The scripture reading this morning is from Ezekiel 33-34 and 1 Peter 5. A number of ideas came to mind. My wife reminded me that Watchman Nee got his name from Ezekiel 33. His famous quote:
"Christ is the Son of God who died for the redemption of sinners and resurrected after three days. This is the greatest truth in the universe. I die because of my belief in Christ." (watchmannee.org)
However, I was unable to find a direct association of his name with Ezekiel 33. The site apologeticsindex.org has this to say about his name:
"Nee was born Nee Shi-Tsu in November 1903. His mother, a Methodist
mission convert, later changed his name to "Bell ringer," or Watchman,
with all the Christian connotations. He claimed conversion to
Christianity in April 1920"
The article went on to caution the readers that Watchman Nee's theology was very concerning:
"When a Christian begins to see Nee as a guide in determining the value of other Christian writers, or sees Nee's writings as a key to spirituality, that person is headed for trouble. Nee's presuppositions are suspect in light of the Word of God. His books provide grist for cult groups such as The Way, The Alamo Foundation, the Children of God and other groups. The astute believer should watch out for Watchman Nee."
What I also learned was that I had confused his name with a certain Witness Lee, who along with Watchman Nee wrote this article concerning the visions of Ezekiel. Enough said about Watchman Nee.
But there is a reason why I dwell on this concept of a watchman. Throughout my Christian life I have been compelled by the thought that my Christian responsibility is like that of a watchman - to warn the non-believers of the impending doom (God's judgement of hell fire). If I don't tell everyone I meet about the salvation offered by God, his blood will be on my head (Ezekiel 33:6)! And I must say that the motivation of telling others about Jesus has turned to more of saving my own neck than to demonstrate Christ's love. I know that can't be true.
It is very interesting that Ezekiel followed the watchman metaphor (chapter 33) with the shepherd metaphor (chapter 34). In fact it is very comforting that Ezekiel predicted the coming of the one shepherd (Jesus):
"I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken." (Ezekiel 34:23-24). We are but sheep of His pasture:"You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign Lord." (Ezekiel 34:31).
The promise was that there would be peace and justice in the land. The difference between a watchman and a sheep of the great Shepherd is that the gung-ho Sovereign Lord will accomplish this!
"Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd... I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice." (Ezekiel 34:7-16)
What a coincidence (or God's providence)! 1 Peter 5 also talks about the shepherd and the flock:
"Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away." (1 Peter 5:2-4)
So I am both a shepherd of God's flock and a sheep of His pasture. The love of God does compel me to share the gospel (2 Corinthians 5:14), but with the right motivation. I can also rest on the assurance that God is always at work to bring salvation to mankind and I am His ambassador (2 Corinthians 5:20).
Lord, thank you for your love! When your people shared your love with me I came to know you as my own Savior and Lord. Today when I meet different people on my vacation, help me see them as people you love and have sent your Son to die for. May there be opportunity to share that great story of Christ's cross and resurrection. Amen!
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:6-7)
Friday 28 November 2014
Friday 21 November 2014
Jerusalem - the Adulterous Wife, or Your Beauty Went to Your Head (rated R)
I read Ezekiel 16-17 and James 3 this morning. Ezekiel 16 really jumped out at me. It read like Song of Solomon at first glance. The allusion of Jerusalem as an adulterous wife was very graphic. God's chosen people living in Judah (represented by Jerusalem, the city where God chose to make it His home) was described as a mixed race abandoned girl, left to die on the open field with her umbilical cord still uncut, naked and exposed (Ezekiel 16:3-4). Yahweh (יְהֹוָה - the proper name given to God by the people of Israel then) rescued her and helped her grow until she was old enough for a love relationship with Him:
"I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine."(Ezekiel 16:8)
The phrase "I spread the corner of my garment over you" (see also Ruth 3:9 the story of how Ruth and Boaz got engaged) described the covenant as a husband and wife relationship (see also gotquestions.org for further explanation).
The rest of chapter 16 went on to describe how unfaithful Israel was to her husband, Yahweh Himself. She became worst than a prostitute. Worse still,
"And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood." (Ezekiel 16:20-22)
Yet God was not ready to give up on her:
"I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. ...So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign Lord." (Ezekiel 16:59-63)
I have highlighted the word covenant throughout this passage. First there was the old covenant which she broke. But God established a new covenant (an everlasting covenant) after making atonement for her sins. We now know that this is the new covenant made possible because of Jesus' death on the cross (Luke 22:20), which was also predicted by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Ezekiel 16 is not an easy chapter to read. Yet perhaps it is exactly what I need to hear today. The commentary by Longhenry has this to say:
"The sins described and the condemnation decreed because of them are not somehow unique to Ezekiel 16; they represent the consistent message of all of the prophets of that time. It is the description of Jerusalem as the abandoned child, dependent on YHWH, yet ultimately being the whore who must be condemned that is quite evocative and powerful. It is hard to get past the vulgarity that so easily offends modern sensibilities; nevertheless, sometimes it is the vulgar that makes the point and communicates the message in ways which the sensible and rational cannot. The raw emotion displayed throughout the description of the metaphor is haunting. In Ezekiel 16 we come face to face with the very hurt yet ultimately forgiving Husband, along with the wife who owes everything to Him but is more interested in everyone else until it is too late. Let us learn a lesson from the whore Jerusalem: let us not serve idols but serve the One True God who has provided us with every blessing!"
It is interesting that Ezekiel 16:63 ("when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation") ties nicely with the message in James 3:1-12. The Message translation entitled this passage "When You Open Your Mouth".
"A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell." (James 3:3-6 Msg)
Perhaps this is the area of focus I can work on today:
"I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine."(Ezekiel 16:8)
The phrase "I spread the corner of my garment over you" (see also Ruth 3:9 the story of how Ruth and Boaz got engaged) described the covenant as a husband and wife relationship (see also gotquestions.org for further explanation).
The rest of chapter 16 went on to describe how unfaithful Israel was to her husband, Yahweh Himself. She became worst than a prostitute. Worse still,
"And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood." (Ezekiel 16:20-22)
Yet God was not ready to give up on her:
"I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. ...So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign Lord." (Ezekiel 16:59-63)
I have highlighted the word covenant throughout this passage. First there was the old covenant which she broke. But God established a new covenant (an everlasting covenant) after making atonement for her sins. We now know that this is the new covenant made possible because of Jesus' death on the cross (Luke 22:20), which was also predicted by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Ezekiel 16 is not an easy chapter to read. Yet perhaps it is exactly what I need to hear today. The commentary by Longhenry has this to say:
"The sins described and the condemnation decreed because of them are not somehow unique to Ezekiel 16; they represent the consistent message of all of the prophets of that time. It is the description of Jerusalem as the abandoned child, dependent on YHWH, yet ultimately being the whore who must be condemned that is quite evocative and powerful. It is hard to get past the vulgarity that so easily offends modern sensibilities; nevertheless, sometimes it is the vulgar that makes the point and communicates the message in ways which the sensible and rational cannot. The raw emotion displayed throughout the description of the metaphor is haunting. In Ezekiel 16 we come face to face with the very hurt yet ultimately forgiving Husband, along with the wife who owes everything to Him but is more interested in everyone else until it is too late. Let us learn a lesson from the whore Jerusalem: let us not serve idols but serve the One True God who has provided us with every blessing!"
It is interesting that Ezekiel 16:63 ("when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation") ties nicely with the message in James 3:1-12. The Message translation entitled this passage "When You Open Your Mouth".
"A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell." (James 3:3-6 Msg)
Perhaps this is the area of focus I can work on today:
- Am I grateful for what God has done - since the days of my youth; since the day I was "redeemed from the pit and crowned with love and compassion" (Psalm 103:4)?
- What are the idols in my life - money, reputation, health? Do I "count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" (Philippians 3:8-10)?
- Lord, help me to glorify you with my mouth and "Don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them." (Ephesians 4:29 NLT)
- AMEN!
Friday 14 November 2014
Great is your faithfulness!
Years ago when I was still a young christian I came across a story of the famous missionary Hudson Taylor who served in China with the then China Inland Mission (now called the OMF International). The story described a time when Hudson Taylor, then the General Director of the mission, was suffering from personal tragedies of losing his wife and children to sickness, and losing many missionaries from the revolution taking place in China. He was distraught and wondered if he did not have enough faith, or that he was not living the kind of holy life God required of him. He then received a letter from his missionary friend John McCarthy, who penned these words that have since etched into my heart through all these years:
"How then to have our faith increased? Only by thinking of all that Jesus is and all He is for us: His life, His death, His work, He Himself as revealed to us in the Word, to be the subject of our constant thoughts. Not a striving to have faith … but a looking off to the Faithful One seems all we need; a resting in the Loved One entirely, for time and for eternity." (page 117 of Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret)
It always makes sense to me, but only after a time of quiet reflection. What's the point of asking for more faith from an unfaithful person? And how do I know if someone is always faithful unless I get to know the person more and more each day, as I do when I read the scripture every day.
Today's scripture reading is in Lamentations chapters 3-5 and Hebrews chapter 10:19-39 (read it from biblegateway.com). Here I am reminded of these famous verses (and the hymn that goes with it):
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
(Lamentation 3:21-24)
The background to this was supposed to be about Jeremiah, the prophet, who was deeply affected by the destruction of his people and the religious establishment as the consequence of God's punishment on their sins. Yet in the midst of this discouragement, Jeremiah found faith in God and His faithfulness and drew strength from it.
Just as a side note, when I looked around for more information about the Book of Lamentations I found this from Wikipedia:
Jeremiah's authorship is no longer generally accepted; nevertheless, it is generally accepted that the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BCE forms the background to the poems. The book is partly a traditional "city lament" mourning the desertion of the city by its god, its destruction, and the ultimate return of the divinity, and partly a funeral dirge in which the bereaved bewails and addresses the dead. The tone is bleak: God does not speak, the degree of suffering is presented as undeserved, and expectations of future redemption are minimal.
However, Biblehub, Gotquestions.org and Biblestudytools all still assume the authorship by Jeremiah.
Now the passage in Hebrews also calls us to persevere in faith: Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23)
And if we are all suffering as a group of believers: And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
The focus of our response to suffering should be that of encouraging each other to love one another and to love our neighbors even more! And do not stop going to church! I know how easy it is that when I am discouraged I get into self-pitying and do not want to meet with others, fearing that I have nothing good to share with others! The one thing we can all look forward to is the second coming of Christ!
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32)
Jesus' life and death in history is what is giving me the confidence to face the troubles ahead.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace. (Hymn: (Youtube)Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus)
"How then to have our faith increased? Only by thinking of all that Jesus is and all He is for us: His life, His death, His work, He Himself as revealed to us in the Word, to be the subject of our constant thoughts. Not a striving to have faith … but a looking off to the Faithful One seems all we need; a resting in the Loved One entirely, for time and for eternity." (page 117 of Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret)
It always makes sense to me, but only after a time of quiet reflection. What's the point of asking for more faith from an unfaithful person? And how do I know if someone is always faithful unless I get to know the person more and more each day, as I do when I read the scripture every day.
Today's scripture reading is in Lamentations chapters 3-5 and Hebrews chapter 10:19-39 (read it from biblegateway.com). Here I am reminded of these famous verses (and the hymn that goes with it):
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
(Lamentation 3:21-24)
The background to this was supposed to be about Jeremiah, the prophet, who was deeply affected by the destruction of his people and the religious establishment as the consequence of God's punishment on their sins. Yet in the midst of this discouragement, Jeremiah found faith in God and His faithfulness and drew strength from it.
Just as a side note, when I looked around for more information about the Book of Lamentations I found this from Wikipedia:
Jeremiah's authorship is no longer generally accepted; nevertheless, it is generally accepted that the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BCE forms the background to the poems. The book is partly a traditional "city lament" mourning the desertion of the city by its god, its destruction, and the ultimate return of the divinity, and partly a funeral dirge in which the bereaved bewails and addresses the dead. The tone is bleak: God does not speak, the degree of suffering is presented as undeserved, and expectations of future redemption are minimal.
However, Biblehub, Gotquestions.org and Biblestudytools all still assume the authorship by Jeremiah.
Now the passage in Hebrews also calls us to persevere in faith: Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23)
And if we are all suffering as a group of believers: And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
The focus of our response to suffering should be that of encouraging each other to love one another and to love our neighbors even more! And do not stop going to church! I know how easy it is that when I am discouraged I get into self-pitying and do not want to meet with others, fearing that I have nothing good to share with others! The one thing we can all look forward to is the second coming of Christ!
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32)
Jesus' life and death in history is what is giving me the confidence to face the troubles ahead.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace. (Hymn: (Youtube)Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus)
Friday 7 November 2014
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts
The title of this blog is found in my scripture reading for today in Hebrews 4:7 in reference to King David's Psalm 95:8. Thank you Lord! I think this is your answer to my question this week. I will explain.
This morning I was also reading from Jeremiah 40-42. The context of this story was that the Babylonians had invaded the kingdom of Judah and had destroyed Jerusalem entirely. They carried off the majority of the Jews to captivity leaving just a remnant of the poorest of the land to stay behind, presumably that they wouldn't have survived the journey anyways. They also left behind a few solders and appointed Gedaliah to govern the land, keeping the land productive, presumably to pay taxes to Babylon over time. Now there were also remnants of Jewish fighting men who had escaped to the open country. These chapters were about these men - some (represented by Ishmael) were reckless, murdering Gedaliah for power, but others (represented by Johanan) appeared to be genuine to the Jewish faith. Johanan and his army officers came to Jeremiah the prophet to seek advice whether to remain in the land (of Judah), or to immigrate to Egypt. These choices were not always clear to make. To remain meant hard work and uncertainty of getting reprisal from the Babylonians. Egypt appeared safer - food was plentiful, even though they would return to slavery, from which God had previously delivered them. Jeremiah received a clear instruction from God - He wanted these men to stay. But they would eventually disobey. It was in this context that Jeremiah declared:
“Remnant of Judah, the Lord has told you, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Be sure of this: I warn you today that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the Lord your God and said, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.’ I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the Lord your God in all he sent me to tell you. So now, be sure of this: You will die by the sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go to settle.” (Jeremiah 42:19-22)
In Psalms 95 King David reminded his people that the story of God's great deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt but subsequently perished in the Sinai desert served to warn us that we must not be disobedient to God's guidance:
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,
When your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they saw My work.
For forty years I was grieved with that generation,
And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,
And they do not know My ways.’
So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’” (Psalms 95:8-11)
The writer of Hebrews uses the concept of the sabbath rest to remind us that the gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that we no longer need to labor/work (by obeying the laws of Moses) for our salvation, but to rest/believe in Christ's saving work on the cross:
Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:6-11)
Working out our faith in God isn't easy. The New Covenant relationship is supposed to replace the Old - faith in Christ should replace strict obedience to the laws of Moses (including the Ten Commandments). Love and sibling friendship with Christ should replace fear and work. But our true love for Christ should manifest itself in our obedience to His command (which is to love God and our neighbor as ourselves). This love relationship is complex. He is not like someone we physically see day to day and interact with in every activity we do. But this love relationship is growing. By understanding more of His character (from the Bible - both the Old and the New Testament), and by experiencing Him in my service to others, I learn to trust Him more and more. Today I learn not to harden my heart when I hear his voice. I have heard Him today!
This morning I was also reading from Jeremiah 40-42. The context of this story was that the Babylonians had invaded the kingdom of Judah and had destroyed Jerusalem entirely. They carried off the majority of the Jews to captivity leaving just a remnant of the poorest of the land to stay behind, presumably that they wouldn't have survived the journey anyways. They also left behind a few solders and appointed Gedaliah to govern the land, keeping the land productive, presumably to pay taxes to Babylon over time. Now there were also remnants of Jewish fighting men who had escaped to the open country. These chapters were about these men - some (represented by Ishmael) were reckless, murdering Gedaliah for power, but others (represented by Johanan) appeared to be genuine to the Jewish faith. Johanan and his army officers came to Jeremiah the prophet to seek advice whether to remain in the land (of Judah), or to immigrate to Egypt. These choices were not always clear to make. To remain meant hard work and uncertainty of getting reprisal from the Babylonians. Egypt appeared safer - food was plentiful, even though they would return to slavery, from which God had previously delivered them. Jeremiah received a clear instruction from God - He wanted these men to stay. But they would eventually disobey. It was in this context that Jeremiah declared:
“Remnant of Judah, the Lord has told you, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Be sure of this: I warn you today that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the Lord your God and said, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.’ I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the Lord your God in all he sent me to tell you. So now, be sure of this: You will die by the sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go to settle.” (Jeremiah 42:19-22)
In Psalms 95 King David reminded his people that the story of God's great deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt but subsequently perished in the Sinai desert served to warn us that we must not be disobedient to God's guidance:
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,
When your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they saw My work.
For forty years I was grieved with that generation,
And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,
And they do not know My ways.’
So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’” (Psalms 95:8-11)
The writer of Hebrews uses the concept of the sabbath rest to remind us that the gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that we no longer need to labor/work (by obeying the laws of Moses) for our salvation, but to rest/believe in Christ's saving work on the cross:
Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:6-11)
Working out our faith in God isn't easy. The New Covenant relationship is supposed to replace the Old - faith in Christ should replace strict obedience to the laws of Moses (including the Ten Commandments). Love and sibling friendship with Christ should replace fear and work. But our true love for Christ should manifest itself in our obedience to His command (which is to love God and our neighbor as ourselves). This love relationship is complex. He is not like someone we physically see day to day and interact with in every activity we do. But this love relationship is growing. By understanding more of His character (from the Bible - both the Old and the New Testament), and by experiencing Him in my service to others, I learn to trust Him more and more. Today I learn not to harden my heart when I hear his voice. I have heard Him today!
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