Log In Sign Up
Shop
  • Buy Subscriptions
  • The Upper Room Store
  • eCourses
Donate
Upper Room logo
  • Daily
    • Daily Devotional
    • Disciplines
    • Sight Psalms
    • New Every Morning
  • Prayer
    • Request Prayer
    • Prayer Wall
    • Books on Prayer
    • Articles on Prayer
  • Community
    • Walk to Emmaus
    • Chrysalis
    • Face to Face
    • Journey to the Table
    • Academy for Spiritual Formation
    • Discovery Weekend
    • eLearning
    • The Upper Room Chapel
    • International Partners
  • Engage
    • Write
    • Donors
    • Volunteer
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Upper Room Books
    • Articles
  • Our Story
    • About
    • History
    • The Upper Room Chapel
    • Upper Room Ministries Blog
    • Help & Support
    • Contact

Disciplines

  • Archives
  • About
  • Submit
  • Subscribe
  • Disciplines
    • Disciplines
    • Archives
    • About
    • Submit
    • Subscribe
March 15, 2017

Not Again!

Sharon G. Austin   |   Read Psalm 95:1-11

(Image by: Pixabay)
  • Text Size
  • Comment
  • Share

Share on Socials

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
Lectionary Week
March 13–19, 2017
Scripture Overview

All the readings af rm God’s benevolent care of those who place their well-being in God’s hands. While imperishable, God’s love can be frustrated by human pride and faithlessness. Water is an important symbol of God’s sustaining grace. In Exodus 17 the Israelites’ dependence on water becomes a statement about their dependence on God. The manner in which they obtain their water stands as commentary on human pride and arrogance. The psalm recounts this episode as a means of warning the people against the kind of obstinacy that impedes grace. John 4 focuses on the full actualization of God’s love in Jesus Christ through the “living water.” Paul speaks of God’s love being “poured into our hearts,” a grace that comes in the death and life of Jesus Christ.

Questions and Suggestions for Reflection

• Read Exodus 17:1-7. When have you complained to God about a situation, only to discover God had already begun to forge a way through?
• Read Psalm 95. How does weekly worship allow you to hear God’s voice? How do you testify to God’s goodness?
• Read Romans 5:1-11. Reflect on a time when your suffering produced endurance and ultimately character.
• Read John 4:5-42. How do the words of Paul to Timothy about a worker “who correctly handles the word of truth” serve as a bridge between the “truth hurts” and the “truth will set you free”?

Respond by posting a prayer .

Psalm 95:1-11

1 Come, let’s sing out loud to the LORD! Let’s raise a joyful shout to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let’s come before him with thanks! Let’s shout songs of joy to him! 3 The LORD is a great God, the great king over all other gods. 4 The earth’s depths are in his hands; the mountain heights belong to him; 5 the sea, which he made, is his along with the dry ground, which his own hands formed. 6 Come, let’s worship and bow down! Let’s kneel before the LORD, our maker! 7 He is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep in his hands. If only you would listen to his voice right now! 8 “Don’t harden your hearts like you did at Meribah, like you did when you were at Massah, in the wilderness, 9 when your ancestors tested me and scrutinized me, even though they had already seen my acts. 10 For forty years I despised that generation; I said, ‘These people have twisted hearts. They don’t know my ways.’ 11 So in anger I swore: ‘They will never enter my place of rest!’”

Unless otherwise indicated, scripture quotations are from the Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible. Used by permission.

The psalmist calls us to praise the Lord with joyful noise and
songs of praise, to worship the Lord as Creator and King.
Then he evokes a pastoral setting: “We are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.” The psalmist looks to God for
help, guidance,...

Holy God, we are not worthy to come into your presence. We have been faithless children; the more you give the more we expect. May the memory of history deliver us from our sense of entitlement. Amen.


0 Comments
  • Share:

Save as Bookmark

Log In to leave a comment

Loading more

Citizenship in the Kingdom of God

Citizenship in the Kingdom of God

I have been involved in justice ministry since 1958. During that time, I have known dozens Read More

Related Resources

A Guide for Small Groups

View

Tips for Leaders of Small Groups

View

A Guide to Daily Prayer

View

How to Have a Daily Devotional Time

View

The Upper Room
1908 Grand Avenue
Nashville, TN 37212

Customer support:

800-972-0433

Contact The Upper Room

  • The Upper Room daily devotional
  • Store & Resource Library
  • Upper Room Books
  • Disciplines
  • The Prayer Wall
  • The Academy for Spiritual Formation
  • eLearning
  • The Walk to Emmaus
  • Face to Face
  • Chrysalis
  • Journey to the Table
  • Discovery Weekend
  • Sight Psalms
  • New Every Morning
  • About Us
  • Upper Room Ministries Blog
  • The Upper Room Chapel
  • Donate
  • Contact Us
© Copyright 2025 The Upper Room
Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Help & Support

Log In to The Upper Room

Sign in with The Upper Room

or

Sign in with Facebook

Sign in with Apple

Don't have an account? Click here to create an account and sign in.