No Turning Back

 DEVOTION

TO HEBREWS

NO TURNING BACK

Heb 3:7-15

7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, 9 where yourfathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. 10 That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'"   12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15 As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."  

NIV

The writer is quoting from Psalm ninety-five, where the truth was spoken about the Israelites and their rebellion. It was not good for them to rebel against the will of God. He had promised them a land of milk and honey, the best place for them, and they refused because of fear which was due to their mistrust in his will which was for their benefit. As a result of their mistrust and rebellion, God declared an oath saying, “They shall never enter my rest”. That is a horrible way they had to live out in the wilderness until they breathed their last. Even if God continued to meet their physical needs, feeding them, giving them heavenly bread, quale, and water, and their clothes and shoes never wearing out, they still died in the wilderness outside of the rest of God. Is this not the point where we learn a profitable lesson? Jesus promised us that when we are weary and burdened if we come to him, he would give us rest for our souls. Is that not what we want, the rest in Jesus, to have that peace of mind and never have to wander in the wilderness until our last breath? We came from that wilderness, and entered into the rest of Jesus, so why would we do anything that would be seen as a rebellion against the will of God? Yet, the question remains, are we doing the will of God? Is it possible that we are living per our desires or our will, and simply adding God as an assurance of salvation, but not really living by his will, which means complete trust in him for every aspect of our lives. That would include where we live, work, worship, and play or engage in entertainment, just as a starter. There is so much more than those aspects of life, and if we say we have come to Jesus, that we believe in Jesus then we must follow him, follow his will for our lives, go where he leads us, for everything God does is for our benefit because he loves us more then we can comprehend. Why would we not want to be in his perfect will, doing that which he desires within us, and through us. There would or should be no reason whatsoever, for us to refuse God because of our desires. Why would we want to be turned around and be sent back into the wilderness from whence we came? Why would we want to live our way which would be refusing God's way, and be sent back into slavery or bondage to sin, being kept out of his rest? No! We have decided to follow Jesus, and no turning back, no turning back, we will follow him wherever he takes us, living according to His desires for us until our last breath. We will live where he leads us, we will have worked where he led us, we have and will continue to worship where he leads us. We will not stop until we reach heaven's door, where we will be in his eternal rest.