2014 Goshen College Lenten Devotional by students, faculty, and staff "Our strong and dependable rock" Wednesday, 19 March 2014 by Leanna Teodosio, a senior Bible and religion major from Lima, Ohio - SCRIPTURE: Psalm 95

2014 Goshen College Lenten Devotional by students, faculty, and staff "Our strong and dependable rock" Wednesday, 19 March 2014 by Leanna Teodosio, a senior Bible and religion major from Lima, Ohio - SCRIPTURE: Psalm 95:1 Oh come, let’s sing to Yahweh.
    Let’s shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let’s come before his presence with thanksgiving.
    Let’s extol him with songs!
3 For Yahweh is a great God,
    a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth.
    The heights of the mountains are also his.
5 The sea is his, and he made it.
    His hands formed the dry land.
6 Oh come, let’s worship and bow down.
    Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker,
7 for he is our God.
    We are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep in his care.
Today, oh that you would hear his voice!
8     Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah,
    as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers tempted me,
    tested me, and saw my work.
10 Forty long years I was grieved with that generation,
    and said, “It is a people that errs in their heart.
    They have not known my ways.”
11 Therefore I swore in my wrath,
    “They won’t enter into my rest.”--World English Bible
DEVOTIONAL:
There are few experiences in life that match that of driving for hours through the winding mountain roads of the Andes Mountains, reaching altitudes in excess of 3,500 meters. No matter which particular moment during transit, your position or vantage point, whether it is near the base or the peak, these mountains are absolutely massive. Not only are they massive in size, but they are vast; they seemingly go on forever into the distance. I have never felt so small as when I stood at the top of one of these mountains and gazed out all around me.
It is no wonder that there are so many Scriptures that reference the mountains and the Creator of these mountains. They are awe-inspiring! In the first verse we are invited to sing before the Lord, our rock of salvation. Sturdy, dependable, accessible and into whose presence we may freely enter. With joy! We have great reason to sing with joy, because our God is available. Incomprehensible and vast, much like the Andes Mountains. And yet here we read that we may enter the presence of God who is available to us. We may offer our praise, should we choose to enter. God is, was and will forever be standing there, our strong and dependable rock.
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 95: A Call to Worship and Obedience
O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
O 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.
O that today you would listen to his voice!
Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your ancestors tested me,
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they do not regard my ways.’
Therefore in my anger I swore,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’--New Revised Standard Version
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