Passage Read: Psalm 95-98
Meditation Verses: 95:7-11
Thought
The key to hearing God's voice and knowing Him is not to harden my heart when He speaks. The people of Israel heard God's voice again and again in the wilderness, but they didn't listen because they didn't care what He had to say. All they cared about was what they wanted and what they weren't getting. They complained and they argued and they resisted God through Moses. They all thought they knew better than Moses what they needed and what God should do for them. So God grew weary of them and swore in His anger that they would never enter God's rest. They refused to understand and know Him, but insisted on Him knowing and granting all their wishes.
Application
If I want to hear God's voice then I need to be willing to do what He says, whether I like it or not, whether He grants what I desire or not. As long as I have any expectations for what God should say and do, I cannot hear what He is saying and I'm incapable of learning His says. Which means I'm frustrating Him and continuing as an object of wrath that God will not permit to enter His rest. I will not be saved. It doesn't matter how much I place myself in contexts where I can hear His voice if I will not listen to it and do what it says. Being exposed to God's voice and hearing it are two different things. Hearing without listening, learning and doing ensures eternal destruction; hearing and learning and doing is the expression of faith that gains a welcome into God's eternal rest. The Israelites of the wilderness are a warning to me that not all who sit in the hearing of God's voice will actually be saved, but it is those who honor and respect God's Word so as to conform their lives to it that will be saved. I want to hear God's voice, so I need to humble myself, listen to what He says, trust Him and do it.