Reject the Calf

(Psa 95:9 KJV)  When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

I don’t have as many down times as when I was younger but they still hit.  Usually I understand that they are a bit cyclical and, as they say, “This too shall pass.”  What helps me is referred to in this verse.  There was a commercial once that talked about “the pause that refreshes”.  I think it was about beer so the thought was wasted but it is still a useful tool.  The pause I go to is a time of thanksgiving.

The Psalmist is rebuking Israel for focusing on a current problem and ignoring how God had seen them through so many other hard times.  It always amazed me that the group that crossed the Red Sea on dry land could turn around and make a golden calf.  We do it in our way.  What we need to do is spend a few moments remembering all the blessings of the past and all the blessings that are still in operation in our lives.

So?  Don’t live in the moment.  Live in the scope of eternity.  Since we can’t comprehend that then settle for the memory of God’s actions in your life.  It works for me.  I trust it will work for you.  

Patience 2

(Psa 95:10 KJV)  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

(Proverbs 4 also read)

How do you define patience?  How long do you wait for results?  We live in the day of instant gratification.  We live in the day of instant communication.  We live in the day of instant oatmeal.  How satisfying is all of that?

But God was not seeking gratification, He was seeking obedience, love.  He was waiting patiently for Israel to grow up.  40 years He waited.  At least that seems to be the way you would read this.  My thinking was that He was waiting for them to die because of their disobedience, but this puts a little bit of a different spin on it.  Is this saying that if Israel had repented in the wilderness, they would have been able to go into the promised land?  It sounds that way to me.

So?  God is patient.  He was patient with Israel.  He will be patient with us. 

Patience

(Psa 95:10 KJV)  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

As I continue to think about patience, God speaks to me.  He reminds me of why the generation was wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.  They were wandering in the wilderness because they were afraid to go into the promised land.  They were worried.  They were not willing to trust.  As a result, they wandered.

As I look at the news and listen to what’s happening in the world, I see evil on a rampage.  I see death and destruction everywhere.  I see government forces out to destroy the people of the country.  I wonder when they’re coming for me.  At that point God slaps me upside the head and says “When have I ever let you down?”

So?  God continues to be patient with me.  I need to trust in him.  The future is in his hands just as the past was in his hands.