“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!”– Psalm 95:6.
My Beloved Family in Christ Jesus our Lord,
For more than two decades now, one of the most famous American TV shows has been Survivor (it is currently in its 43rd season!). I have never watched this show, but I do understand the premise. A group of contestants is placed in a remote location with very few supplies, and they are forced to deal with all of the daunting challenges and deprivations until only one remains, the ‘survivor.’
Each episode chronicles the creative, and even devious, ways that the contestants fend for themselves under the most extreme conditions. What’s clear is that, given such dire circumstances, one cannot remain passive and hope to win. You’ve got to get busy saving yourself! Such extreme danger demands action! You snooze, you lose!
Long ago, the Israelites were encamped in the wilderness during the days of Moses, enduring their own version of Survivor. That dry and dusty place presented them with many challenges, the most basic of which was the need for water.
Exodus 17:2-3 provides us with the inspired account of what happened:
Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
As you can see, it was not a pleasant experience for either Moses or the nation under his charge. What’s remarkable is that Moses even survived the wrath of the thirsty and terribly frustrated people (no pun intended)! In fact, verse 4 says as much:
So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
While the people’s complaints were aimed immediately at Moses, this sinful response to their thirst was actually an act of treason against God. It was at that place, “Massah,” aka “Meribah,” that the covenant people put Yahweh to the test (v. 7).
In Psalm 95, the anonymous author of this hymn refers to that Old Testament episode of Survivor found in Exodus 17. In verses 8-10 he reveals the real problem with the Israelites that day in the wilderness. They hardened their hearts against the Lord, they refused to trust in His provision despite all that He had previously done for them, and they were exposed as those who did not know the ways of the Lord their God. As a result, that sinful generation of Israelites did not enter God’s “rest” (v.11). They died in the wilderness. They did not survive to see the Promised Land.
While there is surely a warning here for us as we walk with Christ our Lord, there is also a great word of encouragement for us on this new Monday. Perhaps we can state it this way. What is your natural inclination in times of need, distress, or emergency, when you’re trying to survive? Mine is to get busy, to make something happen, to figure a way out, to actively respond to the situation. When confronted with a threatening state of affairs, our pulse quickens, our minds shift into hyper drive, and sweat drips from our brow as we frenetically move about in emergency mode.
As I write these words the image of Barney Fife from the old Andy Griffith TV show comes to mind. I can see Barney, Andy’s rather incompetent but thoroughly loveable deputy, fumbling and fidgeting uncontrollably as he tries to put his one bullet in his revolver when the bad guy shows up in Mayberry to rob the local bank. However comical this image is, I often see myself in a similar mode when my life, or my world, seems to be coming apart.
Perhaps you share that sensation, that need to make something happen, that impatience that leads either to questioning the goodness and wisdom of the Lord, or discounting Him altogether and taking matters into your own hands.
But let’s once more ponder those key words found here in Psalm 95:6–“worship . . . bow down . . . kneel . . . .”
The Old Testament Israelites, languishing there in the wilderness, reacted to their dire situation by acting like survivors who had no one to depend on except themselves. In other words, they failed to “rest” in the Lord in that moment of need and danger, and thereby forfeited the greater “rest” of Zion. What they should have done was “worship,” “bow down,” and “kneel” before the “Maker” of heaven and earth, their “great God” and exalted “King” (vv. 2-5).
It’s true that the world in which we live and serve our Savior is still aflame in its rebellion against our Maker. All creation continues to groan under the incalculable weight of human guilt. Nations still rise up against nations, and wars, famines, and disasters are on each day’s agenda until Jesus comes again. Yet, we who belong to Jesus are not cast in the role of survivors! It’s not up to us to fix our situation in this world. Our Father has promised to provide all that we need for life and godliness. There is no need to panic, to become paralyzed by fear or necessity. There is only cause to rest! To trust! To hope! To fall down and worship the One who never fails and is never late in delivering His chosen people!
What will you do today in the face of your needs, fears, anxieties, and emergencies? Fidget, fumble around with frenzied intensity, acting like a mere survivor? Or will you stop, drop, and worship with humble dependence upon your all-sufficient Maker and King?
I love you all so much, and pray that you will know the blessed “rest” of Zion even today!
Mike
Next Up: Psalm 96