Summer ought to be a season when we’re able to rest well—a time we can spend with the Lord and His goodness. But, oftentimes, we actually fall out of healthy spiritual habits and end up trying to rest from the Lord instead of resting in Him.
That’s why we’ve created the Summer Selah Series. Over 40 days, we’ll be sharing daily devotions during a season where you may not feel very devoted.
Based on excerpts from his book Selah: Devotions From The Psalms For Those Who Struggle With Devotion, Ross Lester, our Pastor of Preaching and West Congregation Pastor, will provide readings from select Psalms, a brief devotional reflection, and some prayer points for each of the 40 days.
Take some time to read Psalm 95. Then, come back and read the following verses again.
“Oh 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 you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.” (Psalm 95:6-9 ESV)
One of the objections that people often make about the validity of the Bible is that it has inconsistencies and even contradictions. But, when one considers that the human instruments used to write the Scriptures are so varied and so far from each other in terms of geography, life circumstances, and time, I actually find the Scriptures to be remarkably consistent. It is amazing how much they reference each other and how accurately they do it. It gives me confidence in its validity as a text.
The writer of the book of Hebrews (we are not entirely sure who it was) spends almost an entire chapter pondering Psalm 95 (read Hebrews 3 and 4). The author uses it as a provocation, calling on readers to use the opportunity they have to obey God immediately, and in so doing, avoid being like their forefathers who always assumed that they would obey one day in the future and then unfortunately ran out of future days to presume upon.
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts …”
So, where is God speaking to you and asking for obedience? Do you need to repent of something? Do it today.
Do you need to come clean about something you have done? Do it today.
Is God asking you for sacrificial generosity toward someone? Do it today.
Is God asking you to forgive? Do it today.
Is God asking you to follow Him into something even though it looks risky? Do it today.
“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:12-13 ESV)
What are you waiting for?
Father God, thank You that today presents a fresh opportunity to follow You and to obey You. Grant me the courage to eliminate procrastination and to follow You fervently today.
Ross Lester, Selah: Devotions From The Psalms For Those Who Struggle With Devotion (Magnolia, Texas: Lucid Books, 2017)
