March 30, 2022 - Psalms 95:8-10

“The LORD says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah, as they did at Massah in the wilderness. For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw everything I did. For forty years I was angry with them, and I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’” Psalms 95:8-10 NLT

Lord, help us to always keep our hearts soft before you. We do not want to be like Israel in Maribah or Massah. We want to be constantly leaning into you listening for your voice. We want to be quick to respond with a “Yes” to anything you say. Lord, it is so easy to pray that out, but when it comes down to walking away from something we really want or saying “yes” when it requires courage and full trust, it can be so hard sometimes. It can be so hard to say no to the sin that pulls at our weaknesses.

Lord, help us grow in these areas. Help our trust and faith grow in you. Grow our hatred of knowingly tolerating sin in our lives. Grow our desire to live lives that are pleasing and a blessing to you. When we do mess up, we want to be quick to run to you for forgiveness. We praise you for grace when we do mess up. Help us to not use grace as an excuse to sin, knowing that we can be forgiven later. We do not want to test your patience with us. We do not want to wander through our own deserts unnecessarily because our hearts are not right with you. Help us keep our eyes and heart on you and searching after more of you all the time. Forgive us for the times that we have misused your grace and forgiveness. We thank you so much for how loving you are to us and we long to return that love back to you. We fully surrender our hearts to you.

In Jesus name, amen.