Ps.95:6-8 – O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart…
This is the passage Paul preached from when writing the book of Hebrews, chapters 3 and 4, talking about hearing God’s voice and entering into the promised rest of God. In Psalm 95 David describes making a joyful noise to the Lord, coming into His presence with thanksgiving, God’s greatness in creating and ruling the earth, kneeling before Him in awe, and also how we are the sheep of His pasture. This is exactly what Jesus was speaking of when He said “My sheep hear My voice”. After David described God’s people in intimate worship he spoke the words that resonate through history, “Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your heart”. Hearing God’s voice purifies our hearts and enables us to live in His holy presence. This is something Augustine said about this passage.
“Do not despair. You are sick, approach him and be healed; you are blind, approach him and be enlightened. Those of you who are healthy, thank him for it; those of you who are sick, run to him to be healed. All of you, say, “Come, let us worship and prostrate ourselves before him, and let us weep before the Lord who made us,” made us human beings and saved us. You see, if it was he that made us human beings, while we saved ourselves, it means we have done something better than he has. I mean, a saved human being is better than an unsaved one. So if God made you a human being, and you made yourself a good human being, what you made is better. Do not lift yourself up above God; submit yourself to God, worship, prostrate yourself, confess to the one who made you; because nobody can recreate except the one who creates; nobody can make you new but the one who made you in the first place.”
Augustine is describing the importance of walking with the Living God. Our spiritual well being is absolutely connected to hearing God’s voice and allowing His life changing power to continue to bring healing and restoration to our souls. The Jewish church in the first century was slipping away from the Lord, rather than a life of intimacy and hearing God’s voice they were settling for types and shadows, just a form of godliness. Entering God’s presence and hearing God’s voice is essential. Today, if you hear His voice harden not your heart…
