The untamed wilderness can be a breathtakingly romantic place to see God’s glory and handiwork. From the brilliant fall foliage of the Shenandoah River Valley to the sculptures of Bryce Canyon and Arches National Park, God’s artistry is on full display. What’s more, God’s grandeur is displayed in the jagged peaks of Grand Teton National Park and the spectacular waterfalls of Yosemite National Park. John Muir, often called “the Father of the National Parks”, once wrote, “God never made an ugly landscape. All that sun shines on is beautiful, so long as it is wild.” Yet, the wilderness can also be a harsh and unforgiving landscape striking fear into hearts and stretching ability and strength. Places like Death Valley and Denali National Park provide harsh environments and dangerous wildlife that, without the proper gear or the help of others, require experience to survive. Regardless of one’s perspective, God is not absent from the wilderness. As a matter of fact, He meets us in the wilderness of this broken world if we are willing to look, listen, and obey.
In the book of Exodus, the wilderness was a place that presented a great opportunity for God’s people to see His beauty and might, and follow Him with wholehearted trust. God had rescued His people from slavery in Egypt, taken them through the waters of the Red Sea, destroyed their pursuers, and blessed them with the riches of their Egyptian masters. Now that same faithful God was leading them through the wilderness to their new home, Canaan. Shockingly, the wilderness quite literally turned into a cemetery for an entire rebellious generation. The writer of Hebrews draws from Psalm 95:7-11 to remind his readers of the events that led to this tragedy and to warn them of the danger of doubting God in the wilderness. Hebrews 3:7-11, 15-19 records the "pastor's" words:
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” …
As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
The urgency of the writer is evident. The time to listen to God’s voice and take action is today - not tomorrow, not later, but today (Heb 3:7, 13, 15)! The plea is to trust the God who is Creator, King, and Father. He speaks with power, authority, and care. Previously, the Jewish audience was reminded that God had spoken to their forefathers by the prophets and angels, but His full and final revelation came through His Son (Heb 1:1-4). The crux of the matter is that God desires to make Himself known and give us decisive and reliable direction. He entered our wild world so we might come to know Him and enter His rest rather than wandering aimlessly through life (Heb 4:3; Matt 11:28-30; Matt 7:24).
Amazingly, God still speaks. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 reminds us that there is no substitute for the God-breathed communication of our Heavenly Father. The Bible is God’s Word, “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” It is milk for the new believer and meat for the established one. It protects our hearts from constant attacks. The wilderness is an unrelenting and unforgiving place, but His words “are life … and healing” (Prov 4:20-23).
When God speaks, it is time to listen! Three times the writer employs “today” to emphasize the urgency of his message to his readers. May the emphasis and seriousness of his plea not pass us by. We are not just commanded to hear, but to listen, because when we truly listen, we will be moved to trust and obey. May we also remember that we are not alone. God provides a community of believers to “exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today’” (Heb 3:13). The church is repeatedly commanded to love one another (1 Pet 4:8), show hospitality to one another (1 Pet 4:9), comfort one another (2 Cor 13:11), build one another up (1 Thess 5:11) pray for one another (James 5:16), and so on. This is to be a regular, even daily, practice. Why? So that we may persevere and that none of us might become calloused to the deceitfulness of sin and fall away from reaching our promised rest (Heb 3:12).
Romans 15:4-6 (ESV) - For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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