Thursday, 25 June 2020
Title: Praise and Persistence
Hon Sir Neng

Psalm 95

This is a psalm of praise and exhortation. It directs the people of God to praise God for who He is and what He has done. At the same time, there is an exhortation towards the end of the psalm. So, let us explore this psalm together and see what the implications are for our lives.

Why do we worship God and praise Him? Verses 1-7 shows us the attitudes and reasons in which we worship God. With our attitude, it is one of joyfulness and thanksgiving. Verse 1 tells us to make a joyful noise to God, who is the Rock of our salvation. Verse 2 similarly gives that remark, by telling us to sing songs of praises with a joyful noise!

Why do we sing with joy and thankfulness? Because He is our God! He is the Rock of our salvation. That means, apart from Him, we will have no salvation! We worship Him because of what He has done for us! For the people of God from old, they worship God because of His act of deliverance for His people; likewise, we worship God because of His act of deliverance for us, His people – the church, from our sins! We are to be joyful and thankful, because it is the right response. You wouldn’t be expressionless when a great king saved you. What more when it is Christ our Saviour?

The other reason is because of His great work as the Creator who sustains the world. Verses 4-5 described God’s power in sustaining this world that we live in. These seemingly large things are nothing to Him. The world is in His hands, as verse 4 describes. He is the one who made the vast ocean and all the land which this planet contains! To date, we have barely explored more than a quarter of our oceans! And this vast ocean is created by the God we worship! This calls us to be in awe, as we worship Him as our Creator who created and sustains us!

The last part of this psalm calls us to NOT harden our hearts as we hear His voice, just as the Israelites did when they were in the wilderness. This tells us how we should live our lives. What does it mean to harden our hearts? It is willful unresponsiveness towards all that God has revealed by purposefully being in unbelief. We are not to harden our hearts like the Israelites! By doing so, we are testing God, which will not yield pleasant results! In Hebrews 3:7-14, the author also calls us not to harden our hearts in the deceitfulness of sin and not to fall away from the living God by holding our original confidence firm to the end!

PRAYER

Where are you today in your life before God? Do you worship Him with joy and thanksgiving, consciously knowing in faith that He saved you from the depths of your sins? Or do you harden your heart in the deceitfulness of sin, by actively and willingly doing what you know you shouldn’t be doing? As this psalm reminds us, those who hardened their hearts against God did not enter their rest in the promised land. Likewise, if we are to actively harden our hearts, instead of holding fast to our confidence in Christ, we will never enter our rest in Christ. And as we hold fast to this confidence in faith, may we worship God with thankfulness and joy for all that He has done. May the Spirit of God work in us as we examine ourselves and pray in response to this passage.

每日灵粮
星期四，2020年6月25日
标题：赞美的心与剛硬的心
作者：韩思能

诗篇95

这是赞美与劝勉的诗篇。它指示上帝的子民因着神的本人和所办的一切赞美上帝。同时，在诗篇末尾有一种劝告。因此，让我们一起探讨这首诗篇，看看对我们的生活应用。

我们为什么敬拜上帝并赞美他？1-7节向我们展示了敬拜上帝的态度和原因。是以我们快乐和感恩的态度。第一节告诉我们快乐地向上帝发出声音，上帝是我们救赎的磐石。第2节也告诉我们用欢乐的声音唱赞美歌！

为什么我们要充满喜悦和感恩地唱歌？因为他是我们的上帝！ 他是我们得救的磐石。就是说，除了他，我们没有救恩！因为他为我们所做的事，我们敬拜他！对于上帝子民来说，他们崇拜上帝是因为上帝为上帝子民的救赎。同样地，我们敬拜上帝是因为祂为我们拯救了祂的子民脱离罪恶。我们应该感到高兴和感恩，因为这是正确的回应。当一位伟大的国王救了你时，你将不会毫无表情。对基督我们的救主应该怎么样呢？

另一个原因是因为他作为创造者维持世界的伟大工作。第4-5节描述了上帝在维持我们所生活的世界中的力量。这些看似大的东西对他来说什么都不是。正如第4节所描述的，世界在他手中。他是创造广阔的海洋和这个星球所包含的所有土地的。直到今天，我们几乎还没有探索超过四分之一的海洋。而这广阔的海洋是我们敬拜的上帝创造的！这使我们敬畏和敬拜他，创造并维持我们的创造者！

诗篇的最后一部分劝诫我们在听到祂的声音时不要固执我们的心，就像以色列人在旷野时一样。这告诉我们应该如何生活。硬著我们的心意味着什么？对上帝因有目的地不相信而显露的一切都是故意的无反应。我们不要像以色列人那样硬著自己的心！这样，我们正在测试上帝，这将不会产生令人愉快的结果！希伯来书的作者在3：7-14中使用这段经文，还呼吁我们不要被罪迷惑，心裏就剛硬，把永生神離棄了。而把起初确实的信心坚持到底。

祷告

你今天在上帝面前活在哪里？您是否以喜乐和感恩的奉献敬拜他，有意识地凭信心知道他从罪孽深处救了您？您是否通过积极和自愿地做自己知道的不应该做的事情来使自己的内心在犯罪的欺骗中变得剛硬？正如这首诗所提醒我们的，那些剛硬反对上帝的人并没有进入应许之地。同样，如果我们剛硬自己的心，而不对我们的基督抱以信心，我们将永远不会在基督里安息。当我们坚守对信仰的信心时，愿我们对上帝所做的一切充满感激和敬拜。愿上帝的灵在我们里面作工，以检查自己，并为回应这段经文而祈祷。