Hebrews 3:7-19
Reflect
In today’s reading, the writer of Hebrews quotes from Psalm 95. This is a familiar passage for his Jewish readers as the first phrase served as the call to worship in the synagogue on every Sabbath evening. Imagine how you might posture your heart before God if, at the beginning of every church service, we began with “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”
The writer is calling to mind here the unfaithfulness of the people after the Promised Land had been spied out (Numbers 13), and 10 of the 12 spies gave a bad report. The Israelites wept and grumbled, questioned and disobeyed their leadership, rebelled against God’s judgement, and suffered humiliating defeat. Numbers 14 is a sobering and gut-wrenching chapter of Israel’s history. They treated God with contempt, refusing to believe in Him, despite all the miraculous signs.
This warning for the first-century church is for us today. We can be raised in the church, and we can witness miraculous signs, and yet that is no guarantee that we will hold firm in Christ until the end. Deuteronomy 4:9 provides wise instruction for us: “Only be careful for yourself and watch over your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life.”
Pastor Melissa
Pray
- Pray through the prayer section in our program.
- Pray for Karen Alksne, our Congregational Life Ministry Associate.
- Pray for our Congregational Life Pastor, Mike Bartusek and his family.
- Pray for all our small group leaders. Pray for our Hospitality Coordinator, Irene Dickau.