Psalm 95 reminds us that everything belongs to the Lord. The depths of the sea are his, as are the tip tops of the mountains.

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Spencer Parrish
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1 Psalm 95 reminds us that everything belongs to the Lord. The depths of the sea are his, as are the tip tops of the mountains. Even our lives belong to God because he made us, too. Well, if everything belongs to God, what belongs to us? Not much. We are simply God s stewards. Our job is to manage the gifts entrusted to us, to use the mountains, the seas, the far off lands and the whole of our lives in a way that brings honor and glory to God. But the deeper we delve into Psalm 95, the more it becomes obvious that the psalm has concerns beyond stewardship. The psalm recognizes a common human problem, and wants to do something about it. The condition is the hardening of the heart. Fortunately, it can be cured. As most of us know by now, life is difficult. If we don t know yet, we will someday. Everyone faces difficulties, some small, some very large. No one is immune. Even if we say our prayers, observe the commandments and do our best, trouble still will find us, and we ll have to deal with it. These difficult experiences aren t all bad. They make us emotionally tougher. They force us to use spiritual muscles we didn t know we had. We come out of these struggles leaner and meaner, like Clint Eastwood in a dusty Western. In some cases, our difficulties even become the springboard to a deeper, more vibrant faith.

2 But not always. Sometimes we react to trouble like the Hebrew children in the desert. Sick to death of not knowing where the next meal is coming from, thirsty with no water in sight, we turn not only tough, but hard, and that hardness is directed toward God. When I say we, I m not talking about the gal running the tattoo parlor up the street who also does a few drug deals on the side; or the successful, if crass business man in town who has never darkened the door of a church. I m talking about us. We, the very ones whom God has called, are tempted to harden our hearts when the going gets tough. It s our way of getting even. Because God hasn t orchestrated our lives as we imagined God would, because we ve been forced to accept some things we didn t want to accept, because faith didn t produce the kind of solace we expected, we have held a grudge against God, perhaps a small grudge, but a grudge nonetheless. We let the Lord have part of us, maybe even a big chunk of us. But in protest we hold back some portion of our love and devotion. Somewhere within we draw a line of resistance to the Holy One. Unfortunately, on the other side of that line, cut off from the life source, our hearts begin to harden. At the time, we don t know that we re also squelching our zest for life. But the two go together. A heart closed to God diminishes the joy and gratitude that make life sweet. So in time

3 our protest backfires. It leaves us weary, unreplenished. We think we re defending ourselves from more suffering, from this God that can t be fully trusted. Actually, we re denying ourselves a way into the Promised Land where we could lay down our burdens and rest. Am I describing you this morning? Has your heart been broken by life s struggles? And have you stiffened toward God in an unhealthy way? Children may not have turned out as we hoped. A business to which we gave so much of ourselves went broke. Our bodies broke down too early and too often. We never got that break we needed, though we did all we could to make it happen. We wanted to marry and have children, but no partner appeared. Did you cope by hardening the heart? Did it feel good, maybe even proper at first, but now tastes like death? Thank God, there s another way. The psalmist invites us down a path of renewed joy and fullness of life. Come with me, he says. But we can t take bitterness with us, or cherished anger. The cure is to let the hard heart melt and worship again. O come, please come, and sing once again to the Lord. Clearly, the psalmist believes that whatever wilderness we ve endured, God is still worthy of praise. God is worthy because he is the true God that has called all things into being. Who can do what God has done, forming the seas and dry land,

4 plumbing the depths of the cosmos and spreading out aweinspiring beauty in every direction? No one but God. And as far as reasons to worship go, this is a good one. But the psalmist says more than God created everything. He declares that God created everything with great care, and still holds his lovely creation in his hands. The Deists spoke of a God who wound up the universe like a clock, got it to ticking, and then retreated to the far end of the universe while natural laws kept the whole thing humming. Aristotle spoke of the Unmoved Mover, the impersonal force that drives all action, but stays detached and unaffected by the events thus spawned. Well, the psalmist never met Aristotle, and he didn t go to school with the Deists. The God of Psalm 95 is intimate with his creation. God not only creates, God fashions with care. God not only fashions with care, God also sustains in love everything his hands have made. Including us. We may feel small and insignificant to God. At times, we may even feel like the objects of God s derision. But can we trust those feelings to be true? Or are we more like God s flock, tenderly watched, led to green pastures and beside still waters? God is our shepherd, according to the psalmist, who watches over us and wants the best for us. This is true not only when we experience one happy break after another, but also when life is difficult. When crisis comes wearing the face of a car crash

5 or a debilitating diagnosis, when we re lost in pain or confusion, even when we are barely hanging on, God is sensitive to our need and carries us in his hands. The Hebrew children lost sight of God s constant care and faithfulness while wandering in the desert. We can have some sympathy for them because they were hungry and thirsty without any resources in sight. It wasn t long before the cry went up, We would be better off back in Egypt as slaves. At least we had something to eat. Is the Lord for us or not? Their suffering had given them amnesia. Who do they think sent Moses? Who brought the plagues until Pharaoh buckled? Who parted the sea for their escape from pursuers, and had feed their needs so far? Life was difficult for the Hebrew children, but God knew them, loved them, tended to them and wasn t about to forsake them. The psalmist gives us this history lesson so we won t repeat it. Instead of turning hard, he hopes we ll acknowledge the goodness and the grandness of God because whatever the size our struggles, they are not greater than God s care for us. Tell me if what I m saying isn t true. Whatever we ve had to endure, we ve made it this far. Whatever has come that we didn t see coming, we have been sustained. We may have lost some weight and suffered from thirst, but the desert didn t kill us. Oh, it s been a struggle, I

6 know, and perhaps still is. But aren t you being guided though you don t have all the answers and loved through the storm? And of course, we have something the psalmist did not, the story of Jesus. God cares so much for us that God sent the only Son to suffer with us and for us. Not only did he endure hunger and thirst on our behalf, he took away our sin so that we never need fear that God s heart is hard toward us. The many reasons God could have to draw a line of resistance to us are gone. So if God chooses not to hold a grudge against us, though God had every right to, we have even more reason to sing the psalmist s tune. Come, let us soften, and enter the gates with thanksgiving. The hard heart, in the case of Psalm 95, is a heart that forgets God s faithfulness when the going gets tough; and instead of worshiping, rejoicing, praising and trusting the God who holds the whole world in his hands, the heart interrogates God, judges God inadequate, demands a sign, and holds God at bay when the sign doesn t come. Those reactions are completely understandable. But if we stay there, parts of us begin to die. Let s don t die. Let s live. Now is the day to soften, to lay aside the bitterness and let God enter into every inch of our trembling hearts. What are we waiting for? We ve come a long way from a sermon on stewardship, but not too far. For a soft heart is a generous heart. If we re not

7 getting much joy in our giving, that may be a sign that we have a hard spot in us, and we have some more work to do to cultivate a much needed boost in gratitude. When we are trusting of God and confident of his goodness toward us, then we re also confident there are plenty of resources to go around, and we become conduits of the grace we have received. The most generous people I know are generous not because they have never been in the desert, or because they can afford to be, but because they know they have been provided for, will be provided for and are happy to provide for others. My father-in-law preached for several years in a small church in Oklahoma. He came to know much more by accident than design who were the chief givers in the church. One of those persons did not appear to have enough means to give as we was giving. So my father-in-law out of concern for the man s wellbeing approached him one day. He wanted to make sure the man wasn t stretching himself too thin. The man s quick and sharp response was, Are you kidding me? After everything God has done for me, there s no way I m giving too much. Are you kidding? I m sure his life was difficult because all of us have difficulty. But in touch with God s incredible grandness and goodness, the heart remained soft.

8 I m telling you that story because that man in Oklahoma was free. That s what I want. Isn t that what all of us want? To be free and full of the life that comes we let God have us. Then find that hard spot, and release it. Let gratitude and joy return, because even if life is difficult, God is our God, and we are the sheep of his hand.

A Psalm of Thanksgiving (Psalm 100)

CFCW 09/27/2015 A Psalm of Thanksgiving (Psalm 100) Introduction I am sure many of you are familiar with the following quote: What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?