March 21, 2022 -- Psalm 95 -- The LORD is a Great God

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

Oh come, let us sing to the LORD;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the LORD is a great God,
    and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
8     do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers put me to the test
    and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
    and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
    and they have not known my ways.”
11 Therefore I swore in my wrath,
    “They shall not enter my rest.”
Psalm 95 ESV

What a stark warning. It is possible for a man to kneel before the LORD in prayer in the morning and later that same morning curse his brother. When his brother is stubborn that same man might harden his heart against his brother and act in anger. In very little time a man of prayer and worship becomes a grumbler and one who tests God—a man whose heart goes astray.

Examine your heart. With whom are you angry right now? What situation is making you grind your teeth? Where is the vexatious work of the Devil slipping past your defenses and gaining entrance into your heart? Confess it. Repent. Turn from you sin. For the wrath of the LORD, the God of vengeance, will repay the proud what they deserve. If your heart is proud and hardened against the LORD, tremble in fear. It is a terrible thing to face the loathing (that is intense disgust or hatred) of the LORD Who is the Great God.

Today, if you hear His voice, soften your heart toward Him. Humble yourself. Declare to Him your need for His Spirit to bring you to the cross of Christ, where the healing streams of God’s mercy flow down.

LORD, without Thee I can do nothing;
   with Thee I can do all.
Help me by Thy grace, that I fall not;
   help me by Thy strength to resist mightily
   the very first beginnings of evil,
     before it takes hold of me;
help me to cast myself at once at Thy sacred feet,
  and lie still there, until the storm be overpast;
  and, if I lose sight of Thee,
     bring me back quickly to Thee,
     and grant me to love Thee better,
     for Thy tender mercy's sake--Amen.
E.B. Pusey (1800 - 1882)

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