“Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” Hebrews 3:15
It was Moses who wrote in his prayer, “…teach us to number our days, that we may present unto Thee a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12) Why did Moses write this concerning “our days?” It is because, according to Scripture, our days are numbered. The significance of this from heaven’s standpoint, is that there is opportunity in every one of those days. That opportunity, privilege, and responsibility has as its first and highest consideration, true communion with God. The calling of every believer is to communion with the Father, and with the Son, by the Spirit. Both Paul and the Apostle John affirm this. Indeed, there is no other answer to God working wonderfully, and mightily, through His servants other than while they were in communion, or fellowship with Him. They walked with Christ, by Christ, for Christ. Christ was their life, their light, and strength, their very essence and means by which to live. Those who have preceded us in the faith were very conscious of the value and purpose of time with respect to their highest objective, to KNOW this God of the Scriptures, this God of history, but also this Eternal Father, and everlasting, unchanging Son, Savior, and King, all made possible by the Spirit.
In Israel’s day, during their deliverance from Egypt, then throughout the ages and history of their prophets and kings, to this very day, we find that they were faced with the issue of time, time that was a gift from God. Their opportunities in the space of time, founded in the obligation and compelling calling of God, resulted in some hearts by the earnest, and whole-hearted seeking of the face of God. This was never to be considered a passive, and secondary occupation and pursuit. It was the primary, singular, and whole-hearted endeavor, involving every faculty of man’s existence, the result of God’s working by the Spirit to bring it to pass.
God’s way of dealing with man has always had its basis in His mercy. One cannot explain why the eternal, Holy God, could descend to man’s level of need, in order to save and deliver him, except that He chose to demonstrate the greatness of His love and mercy. And yet, He would do this in order to reveal to man something of His glory, His nature, and His ways, according to eternal truth. At every juncture of history, after man had in a reoccurring manner rejected God, we find God, though just in His dealings with the sinfulness of man, did seek again and again to save him. God would come and reveal Himself to man, and this, by His own initiative. We see this in Noah, Abraham, during the times of the prophets, as He sought His people, and also, during the successive empires of earth. The highest privilege of man was to receive the revelation of God. The matter of time’s opportunity and its importance, in the revelation of God to man, and men, to receive and believe it. With that revelation came great expectation.
When Jesus began His ministry, after His baptism, He began calling His disciples. There is no doubt that these men were already seeking God, for some would declare, “We have found the Messiah.” Why would they say that they had found Him, except that they were seeking? And why were they seeking, except the Spirit of God was drawing them? The moment that they truly believed in Christ, and surrendered to Him as Lord, King, and Savior, the moments and hours of time began to become very important. Why? It was because of the magnificent Person standing before them, and the eventual grasping of Christ’s perfect, and powerful, work on the cross. This is why the question resounds down the centuries to our ears and hearts even now: “Today, if you will hear His voice…” This present day and moment have been designed by God for man to hear the voice of God by the Spirit.
Dear Father, Make us to hear. In Jesus’ name, Amen.