Those of us who were born into Lutheran Church Missouri
Synod pews some fifty years ago will remember Psalm 95 as the Venite in the Order
of Matins. It was printed on pages 33 and 34 of The Lutheran Hymnal in such a
way that one had to flip back and forth throughout the singing of it. We
frowned on user friendly worship in those days. Venite is Latin for “Come” and
served as the call to worship, though if I remember correctly we left out the
threats at the end where God loathing the “they do not regard my ways” people
swore to lead them in circles until every last one of them died in the desert. There
is no doubt that the hardening of the heart leads to spiritual cardiac arrest
but I have difficulty imagining that God loathes those on spiritual life support.
The consequence we suffer for not listening to the Lord’s voice is that we are
on our own. That does not mean we suffer the hatred of God who in anger despises
the “people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand” who don’t stay in the pen.
Rather for the sake of “a people whose hearts go astray” the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine in search of the one (Matthew 18:12) “was led
like a lamb to the slaughter…” (Isaiah 53:7) O come let us worship and bow down
for the Lord was put to the test and the proof of God’s intention for every
generation of hardened hearts is the cross.
No comments:
Post a Comment