Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomin:
Psalms 95:8 “Harden not your heart as in the day of provocation (Meribah), and as in the day of temptation (Massah) in the wilderness.”
Sometimes we forget that the Psalms are written in poetry and that poetry is much more than the art of making words rhyme. The nature of the poetry in this verse is the use of proper names from an actual event and the meaning behind the proper names describe the events that took place.
The writer refers to two places name Meribah and Massah. Meribah means “provocation” and Massah means “temptation.” We find this story in Exodus when Israel was encamped at Rephidim where they had no water and they began to grumble, complain and tempt the Lord. God instructed Moses to strike a rock with his staff and water came from the rock. However, Rephidim was given a spiritual name Meribah and Massah because of the murmurings of the people. These two names were also given at Kadesh-Barnea where similar circumstances arose. However, the Septuagint and the Targum (Aramaic translation from the Hebrew) both use these words as common nouns rather than proper names in the story at Kadesh-Barnea.
I was actually going to study Psalms 95:11, but my attention kept coming back to verse 8. I did not really want to study verse 8 as it was making a reference to the “wilderness” and I feel in my heart that I am passing through a wilderness on my journey to God’s heart and this verse might say something I really do not want to hear. So it seems that God is dragging me into verse 8 while I am kicking and screaming.
What is very disturbing is God is instructing us to not “harden” our hearts. It is suggested that Meribah and Massah will cause one’s heart to be hardened against God. I certainly don’t want my heart hardened to God. If that happens my journey to God’s heart will end (not to mention my daily study in the Word of God). So I need to take special note that I do not fall into Meribah and Massah.
First I need to know what it means to “harden” one’s heart. The word “harden” is “kasa” which has the idea of stiffening, but in it’s primitive form it means to be heavy or depressed. We should also note that the word is in a Hiphal form so it could be rendered, “Do not allow your hearts to be depressed or discouraged.” The idea of a hardened heart against God is that you will not listen to God’s voice or act in obedience to Him. What better way for a heart to be disobedient to God and not hear God’s voice when it is filled with discouragement and depression. My father used to tell the story of Satan having a garage sale and selling off all his tools to the demons. He laid out all the tools used to draw a Christian away from God. There was lust, greed, pride etc. Each had price tag and all the items sold except one. This one had a price tag that no demon could afford, it was Satan’s prized tool. As it didn’t sell he decided to stay in the business of drawing Christians away from God as he could do it with just this one tool. That tool is discouragement.
Nothing can harden your heart against God quicker than discouragement. For once you allow discouragement (and in a hiphal form it does mean an act of your will) to enter your heart, you will begin to Meribah against God. Meribah comes from the root word “rayav” which has the idea of causing contention, being adversarial or judgmental. In it’s primitive form it is spelled resh, yod, vav which presents the idea of having a frantic heart from judging God. The children of Israel did not murmur or complain that they had no water. They were complaining that God was not providing water for them. It was all God’s fault, He brought them out into the wilderness to die of thirst. They allowed their hearts to become discouraged by believing that God had abandoned them.
Not only that but they started to Massad. Actually, it was Medivar Massad, which is literally the Wilderness of Massad. Yet, the root meaning of Medivar is to have no understanding and Massad literally means to flow down, dissolve or melt. We see this translated as “tempting God.” What does it mean to tempt God?” Tempting God is allowing your understanding of him to melt down into nothing. That is to mean to distort your understanding of God. When Jesus told Satan: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” he was telling Satan, you will not distort the true understanding of God. That is exactly how the enemy uses this tool of discouragement, by distorting our understanding of God. He just whispers in your ear: “Yeah, he was faithful in the past, but what if he fails you now? How do you really know he was faithful in the past, maybe is was all a coincidence. How can you be sure He is not toying with you? How do you even know there is a God up there?” I don’t know about you but I hear that voice all the time.
When I hear that voice, Psalms 98:8 is telling me that hardening my heart to God is in a hiphal form and not a qal imperative. I have a choice. I can listen to the enemies voice and allow my heart to become discouraged, and depressed, or I can turn to the enemy and say: “Devil, you are a liar, I am going to trust and have faith in God even if I end up on a street corner with a tin cup, I will still have faith in God for it is it faith that pleases God and all I care about is pleasing God, even if I am at Rephidim with no water in my cup. I am choosing God over discouraged or hardened heart”
That having been said, I now continue on my journey to God’s heart.
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