Psalm 95

“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: ‘Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me; they tried Me, though they saw My work. For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.” So I swore in My wrath, “they shall not enter My rest.”’” Psalm 95:6-11 (NKJV)

When semi-retired artist manager Shep Gordon married a raw food chef three days before his 60th birthday, he arranged to have his honeymoon on an extremely exclusive resort on a tiny, remote island in Hawaii that usually plays host to just one or two couples. When Gordon’s wife’s laptop computer broke, he called the front desk for assistance.  The hotel clerk said the vacationer on the other side of the island may be able to lend assistance.  When the “repairman” showed up several minutes later, it was Steve Jobs, owner of Apple Computers.  The owner of Apple was kind enough to personally fix his company’s product on his vacation.

Today’s psalm states that God is not a disinterested manufacturer.  Quite the contrary, He is personally involved with us because He loves us, and we bear His brand.  He is both manufacturer and repairman, Creator and Shepherd.  In a world full of so-called “shepherds” (Jeremiah 23:1-3), whose interest in the sheep extends only as far as their supply of wool and mutton, we (the sheep of His hand) delight in the Good Shepherd, and our ears are tuned to hear His voice.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” John 10:27-29 (NKJV)

Yes, the God of all creation desires for all men, everywhere (Acts 17:30-31), to repent.  The question is not whether men have the ability to hear the gospel call.  The question is whether men will choose to heed it!

“So I swore in My wrath, ‘they shall not enter My rest.’ Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’” Hebrews 3:11-15 (NKJV)

The call goes out, not only for mankind to believe, but also that men and women who believe will choose to be used of God to win others! “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”  Romans 10:14 (NKJV)