Today’s Reading : Psalms 95
Throughout our daily conversations, we use familiar phrases and words to relate our emotions and our situations. These phrases are part of our common speech. These are commonplace when you’re speaking to people who have similar backgrounds. As an example, this past Halloween evening, while giving out candy I met my friend and their child. When I saw them I stated “you made out like a bandit“. The dad laughed and the child looked at me with confusion. The dad and I are from the same generation. I was congratulating the child on a very productive trick-or-treating and then I had to explain it that he got a lot of candy and it was a good thing.
Sometimes the words and phrases that we use can have a hidden meaning or a hidden message. It’s about the audience and the speaker. The speaker has to know the audience and has to direct the information and the language to them. When the message is not clear a disconnect happens and then there is a loss in translation or a point of confusion due to the hidden messages.
In today’s passage, we see the author’s gratefulness and appreciation for the deliverance and the joy that God has given the people. But as you read through the psalms, there are hidden messages that we might not see, but are familiar to the people of Israel. That’s where we have to dive deeper and to see the true meaning of the scripture and the verses.
“Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!”
“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. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.””
In these sections we can see the gratitude and the happiness that we have for God and for the salvation that is given to us.
In the latter sections, we have the hidden messages.
Meribah is the place where the newly freed people of Israel became mad at God and began to quarrel (the direct translation of Meribah) about God’s provision and promises.
This is where they began to test, Massah, God’s ability to fulfill the promise. They allowed their own understanding to override God’s promises. They hardened their hearts and attempted to do things on their own. This testing didn’t happen just once but continuously throughout their 40 year journey. Even Moses was susceptible to doing things his way, and this prevented him from going into the promised land.
God has many things ready for us and has many things promised to us. We all have questioned God’s provisions and God’s ability to fulfill his promises. When God has promised these things to us and we have a relationship with Him, we have to be able to wait until his promises are fulfilled.
Let us pray that God allows us to see the hidden messages that He has in store for us. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to give us comfort in the times when we feel unsettled and anxious about the promises that He has in store for us. May we pray that God continues to give us refreshment and give us peace in the times of our anxiety and our struggles.
Be blessed
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