Hebrews 3: ⁷ Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, ⁸ do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as on the day of testing in the wilderness, ⁹ where your ancestors put me to the test, though they had seen my works ¹⁰ for forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.’ ¹¹ As in my anger I swore, ‘They will not enter my rest.’ ” 

The writer of Hebrews is writing to an audience of Jewish Christians, explaining why Jesus the Son of God is greater that Moses who was merely a servant of God. He warns the Jewish Christians to listen to the voice of God (via the Holy Spirit) rather than resist the commands of God as the people did under Moses in the wilderness for 40 years (v.8). As a result they were never able to “enter my rest” (v.11), but were continually at war with surrounding nations.

When God speaks we are to listen and obey. Fairly simple isn’t it? But then there’s that rebellious streak in humans that gets in our way. Despite what we know to be right, there’s a part of us that wants to choose wrong – to go our own way rather than following the ways of God. That rebellion is what we call “sin” – and it’s been present from Adam and Eve.

As a Christian I know that I have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit (as in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), the presence and power of God that dwells in all believers. It’s that power that gives us ability to overcome the power of sin and follow God’s will and ways. But I admit there are times when I choose rebellion anyway, like the people being confronted in this passage from Hebrews. So this morning I’m asking the Lord to show me the places in my life where I’m rebelling, where sin has the upper hand. And I’m asking the Lord for grace to bring me back to obedience and life.

Lord let it be so. Amen.