“…do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness.”

This was a simple case of disobedience. The disobedience was a result of not trusting God to do what He said He would do. Let’s keep that definition in mind. Rebellion against God is to fail to have faith in Him. The book of Hebrews is all about faith as a trusting of God and His word. These people had the word of God which came directly through Moses, the prophet of God. They understood the word. They chose to believe men rather than God.

Unfortunately, that was a problem in the days of the early church, and it is still a problem today. There is a plethora of doctrine and theology teaching but one true word. Often, it is a case of men thinking they can make the Book say what they want it to say because they don’t like what it says.

There are places in the Word where God is not specific. In these cases, we, the believers, are free to follow our own thoughts as to what is appropriate, but when God is specific, we are not free to substitute our own choice of methods or behavior. This is especially true when we are talking about eternal salvation. This is not the right place to listen to men regardless of the esteem we hold them in.

Task for Today: To understand my point here I suggest that sometime today you open your Bible search tool and look up save in all its forms. Copy each of those verses down and make a list of what is required by God for salvation. Then ask yourself if you are in obedience to God or have you just done the part recommended by men. Let me remind you of what caused the Israelites to miss the land they were promised.