The First Sunday in Lent (Ps) February 17th

Psalm 95:1-11

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; 

let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 

 ²  Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; 

let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 

 ³  For the Lord is a great God, 

and a great King above all gods. 

 ⁴  In his hand are the depths of the earth; 

the heights of the mountains are his also. 

 ⁵  The sea is his, for he made it, 

and his hands formed the dry land. 

 ⁶  Oh come, let us worship and bow down; 

let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 

 ⁷  For he is our God, 

and we are the people of his pasture, 

and the sheep of his hand. 

  Today, if you hear his voice, 

 ⁸  do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, 

as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 

 ⁹  when your fathers put me to the test 

and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 

 ¹⁰  For forty years I loathed that generation 

and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, 

and they have not known my ways.” 

 ¹¹  Therefore I swore in my wrath, 

“They shall not enter my rest.”

How many times have you sung the first part of this Psalm? This is a part of The Lutheran Hymnal’s Matins Service.  It serves as an entrance hymn into the service and as we come before the throne of God. Recognizing that you have reminded yourself of God’s creative power.

Now let us look to the last part of the Psalm.  The Psalmist recalls not only the time when the people of God hardened their hearts, following in the pattern of Pharaoh.  But it also reminds us about their forty-year journey in the wilderness.  These people constantly fell into to temptation and turned away from the God who had delivered them.

But God did not leave them nor forsake them.  He remained with them throughout these 40 years in cloud & fire.  He continued to call them back to himself.  He pointed them to what he has already done, and is still doing for them.

Likewise, God will not leave you nor forsake you.  He will remain with you by means of his Word.  He will continue to call you back to himself.  It is in the Word of God we are pointed to what God has done for you and continues to do for you.  He has sacrificed his only son for the forgiveness of all your sinful acts and your sinful condition.

It is Jesus Christ who is the perfect Son of the Most High.  He is cast into the wilderness and does not turn away from his father, but clings to him as he faces every temptation.  He leads this perfect life in flesh and blood and he offers that life to you in flesh and blood.