^{Hebrews 3:7-19   Follow God!}

⁷ Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

Today, if you hear His voice,
⁸ do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
⁹ where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
and saw My works ¹⁰ for 40 years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation
and said, “They always go astray in their hearts,
and they have not known My ways.”
¹¹ So I swore in My anger,
“They will not enter My rest.”^[b]

The writer of Hebrews is encouraging us to hear God when He speaks to us.  When we hear his voice, we need to obey what He tells us to do, no matter what.  We are cautioned to not harden our hearts when God decides to test us.   The Israelites were tested in the wilderness by God to see where they were at., did they follow God, or something else?  

Unfortunately, they rebelled against God, and showed that they were in fact following something else, as God placed them through the refining fire.  Only Joshua and Caleb made it through to the promise land.  In Matthew 7, Jesus says

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. ¹⁴ How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.

  The Isrealites are a picture that the gate is wide to destruction, since most of them never made it to the promised land.  Few found the road to the Promised Land from the wilderness.   We are called today to find that road that leads to life, then walk down it.  I know we all veer off that road at times, and even go backwards on it, but when we place Christ as the true center of our hearts, He helps us to walk down that narrow path.  

  As in the Biblical times we have many distractions today.  Some of the distractions we face today is the internet, Facebook, cell phones, TV.  We have become the most independent society ever.  One of the problems many Christians face is a lack of time to sit at the feet of Jesus, because technology has us consumed.  It keeps us going in endless loops, and isolates us from each other. I have personally seen this happen in my life, along with many others.  Back last fall, when God started to cut those things out of my life, I bucked Him. I really was upset with God for taking away my 'right' to have what everyone else had.  I wanted my unlimited internet at home, my smartphone, my unlimited calling to anyone I would choose to call, and to go home, sit in front of my laptop and 'veg' all night.  It placed a strain on the friendships I had, and placed a heavy strain on my marriage, to the point we hardly ever talked in person anymore. Since God simplified our life and removed those distractions, our marriage has strengthened, and I have been working on trying to re-establish friendships that I had ignored when all I could focus on was being online 24/7.  That part has been very difficult, due to the fact people are always busy, and have their own lives to live, and are glued to technology.   Also the face I am not a 'social butterfly' does not help matters when trying to re-connect with people. God has restored having a smartphone to me, and yes it is a blessing to have, but it can also be a distraction from what truly matters, like God, family, friends, if we allow it to be.   I am not saying to throw everything electronic out and go back to living like they did in the 1900's, but if the Holy Spirit convicts you in an area, obey what the Holy Spirit speaks to you!

¹² Watch out, brothers, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God. ¹³ But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception. ¹⁴ For we have become companions of the Messiah if we hold firmly until the end the reality^[c] that we had at the start. ¹⁵ As it is said:

Today, if you hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.^[d]

¹⁶ For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it really all who came out of Egypt under Moses? ¹⁷ And who was He provoked with for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And who did He swear to that they would not enter His rest, if not those who disobeyed? ¹⁹ So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

 There are 2 things God is speaking to me when I read this section of Scripture:

1.  Am I being an encouragement to other believers?

2.  Am I disobeying God because I do not believe Him?

The first point of being an encouragement to others is important.  As I stated above, when I allowed myself to isolate into my own little world, I started to lose my focus upon Christ.  As I lost focus, I started to me more 'me focused' instead of God focused.  This caused me to become angry, bitter, resentful, and mad at God.  I got mad at God for not blessing me and blessing me now.  I lost my heavenly focus, and concentrated on my earthly focus (which is rubbish in eternity).  When we stop being an encouragement to others, we can slide away from God quickly and then we harden our hearts towards anything good. 

 I am thankful that God has tremendous mercy towards me, and woke me up from the spiritual nap I was taking.  When we are in a spiritual nap, unbelief will creep in.  We will forget about how God has blessed us, and then we start to question and wonder if God is still there (at least I have in the past).  If God was not merciful, and shown to me how much He really loves me, and that He died upon the cross for me just as I am, I would of entered eternity still with this unbelief on my heart.

 I keep fighting spiritually to get back in the race. The race on this earth is hard, and there are ups and downs.  In the end, standing in front of My Savior, I want to earn the prize of Jesus saying to me " Well Done Good and Faithful Servant'.  I do not want to be told by him, 'Depart from me for I never knew you".  This is why I write these blogs, and publish them online.  God places things on my heart to share with my fellow brothers and sisters, and since the easiest way for me to share at this time is via this blog, I share this way.  I am not afraid to admit I am not perfect, because I am not. If you ever hear me say otherwise, really pray for me!

 

God will test us to show us what our true priorities are in this life. God is a jealous God, and He wants nothing to come between our relationship with Him.  There are times that the refiner's fire hurts and is painful, but it exists to remove any impurities from our lives, to make us pure in the sight of God. 

 The question I have to keep asking myself is:" Am I going to follow God, or follow my self?"  My answer is the same as the end of Joshua 24:15 As for me and my family, we will worship Yahweh(God).

In Christ,

-Kevin

PS please feel free to contact me in regards to anything I write.  kevdogg329@gmail.com