Hebrews 3:7-19

 ⁷So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, ⁸do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, ⁹where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. ¹⁰That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ ¹¹ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”¹² See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. ¹⁴We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. ¹⁵As has just been said:“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”¹⁶ Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? ¹⁷And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? ¹⁹ So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

Today’s passage starts with a reference to Psalm 95. In these verses the author talks about the hard hearts of the Israelites during their forty-year wandering in the desert. They are accused of hardening their hearts and not listening to the voice of God, the same God they saw doing miracles in Egypt. We tend to think of these forty years in the wilderness as a time when the Israelites were tested, but in this passage, God is the one being tested. Finally, God becomes angry with the stubbornness of his people and does not let that generation enter the promised land.

With this reference, the author of today’s passage warns us against a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. I asked myself, what does a hard heart have to do with sinfulness and how is unbelief linked to all of this? Verse 13 shows that it is sin that hardens our hearts and makes us unable to accept God’s Word when he speaks. The Israelites’ sin was to go astray and not know God’s ways (v 10), which can be summarized as disobedience (v 18). The author calls this unbelief (v 19). So, we see that sinfulness, that is disobedience, is closely linked to unbelief.

Is this something you recognize? Hearing God’s Word and not obeying it says a lot about our image of God. Firstly, about who we believe him to be. If he is the Lord of the universe and the maker of you and me, do we not owe him everything including complete obedience? Secondly, it says a lot about what we believe God’s capabilities are. If he tells you to do something, can you not be sure that he will equip you with everything you need to do it, even if it seems impossible? The author tells us to encourage each other daily so that our hearts are not hardened by sin. The words betray a sense of urgency. It’s about now, and not about later. The passage begins with the words, “Today, if you hear Gods voice…”.

Are you ready to hear God’s Word today and put your trust in him?

Prayer: Lord, I believe; help my unbelief! (Mark 9:23-24)