Hebrews 3:7-19

 7So, as the Holy Spirit says:    “Today, if you hear his voice, 8do not harden your
hearts    as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert,
9where your fathers tested and tried me  and for forty years saw what I did.
10That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘ Their hearts are
always going astray, and they have not known my ways. 11So I declared on oath
in my anger, ‘ They shall never enter my rest.’ “
 12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns
away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is
called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14We
have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had
at first. 15As has just been said:    “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden
your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”
 16Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led
out of Egypt? 17And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with
those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? 18And to whom did God
swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19So
we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

MEDITATION
1. These verses warn against two enemies of the spiritual life: a hardened heart
(v8) and unbelief(v12).  The Exodus generation heard God’s word through
Moses.  However, they would not trust God and refused to obey Him.  As a
result, they found neither rest nor peace.  
2. This is the same with us today.  When we heard and responded to the
message of Jesus, we are invited to experience a rest and complete inner
peace.  However, if we are not willing to trust God completely and refuse
to respond his God’s voice, then we will not experience this peace of God.
3. Quiet before the Lord and reflect: Am I saved yet miserable?  Do I believe
God but still anxious?  Have I repented yet unresolved?  Could it be that I
have hardened my heart, and am unwilling to obey God?  Ask for guidance
and a willing spirit to trust and obey God.

Personal note:
As I am planning and working today, I feel discouraged at times of the unknown and my heart felt weak.  I pray and ask God for wisdom and strength, and I trust that God will make a way so brothers and sisters will experience his peace and presence.