“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert. Where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did. For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.'” ~Psalm 95:8-11
Thinking of this passage the last couple days, something clicked in me. You remember me talking of my love for fairy tales? Well, it came back, only with a greater punch because here it’s the real deal.
God has always had a heart for being intimate with us, so it struck me when I thought of this that Israel, when she was rescued by God from slavery in Egypt, may and should have been head over heels in love with her Savior. Oh she was happy to be free from slavery, but in love? Nope! It was God’s mighty works that she wanted, not His ways, nor to be intimate with Him.
Instead she went her own way and tried and tested Him again and again. No wonder He got fed up with her ingratitude. But being God and His desire for Love being stronger then Israel’s wickedness, He revealed another Bride – the one He had in His heart from the beginning of time.
After Jesus had been resurrected, she came forth from His Son’s bosom and she’s been learning and coming to Love her deliverer. She’s also been abused and mistreated but she has reacted different then Israel. Her heart is becoming pure, learning to forgive and cling closer to her Lover.
One bride was proud and unworthy, the other has gained a heart of flesh to become humble, and with her Lover’s blood has become worthy.
One will not enter His rest, the other has. Only one thing is required; don’t harden your heart to His voice.
Till Jesus wills it,
Godspeed!