A Prayer Against Unbelief

Psalm 95

There can be no rest to an unbelieving heart.

Spurgeon

Psalm 95 begins with an invitation to worship the Lord and gives us reasons why He is worthy of our worship, thus the tone at the beginning of the psalm is one of joy and confidence. The second part of the psalm, however, gives us warnings to not turn away from this worthy God. This psalm is part of book 4 of the psalms which has a theme of trusting God and living by faith that God reigns, even when all of the evidence of life appears to contradict that truth.

In his warning, the psalmist implores the people to not harden their hearts as their fathers did when they came out of Egypt. God had rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt by mighty signs and the miraculous parting of the Red Sea. And yet, when they started to experience the difficulties of the wilderness, they quickly turned aside from the Lord and grumbled and complained, testing and trying the Lord, and doubting Him by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Exodus 17:7). Though He had delivered them and led them all the way, they continued to doubt His provision for them.

But this warning is not just for the Israelites of old. The author of Hebrews quotes the warning of Psalm 95, and then says,“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end” (Hebrews‬ ‭3:12-14‬). The author of Hebrews warns believers to guard their hearts against unbelief. He urges them to not fall away from the living God, but rather to hold their confidence firm until the end, evidence that they have come to share in Christ. An unbelieving, hardened heart is a heart that has forsaken its confidence in God. Barnes says:

The root of their evil was ‘a want of confidence in God’ - and this is what is meant here by a heart of unbelief. The great difficulty on earth everywhere is a ‘want of confidence in God’

A “want of confidence” means a lack of confidence in God, a lack of trust that God is who He says He is and He will do what He says He will do. Are there areas in our lives where we are doubting the Lord? Do we lack confidence that God will be and do all that He has promised in His Word? Because of circumstances we face, or sin we are ensnared in, are we doubting God’s goodness to us? Beware of an evil, unbelieving heart.

Are we not quite as apt to misinterpret the dealings of the Lord? Have we suffered and enjoyed so many things in vain? With many it is even so. Forty years of providential wisdom, yea, and even a longer period of experience, have failed to teach them serenity of assurance, and firmness of reliance. There is ground for much searching of heart concerning this. Many treat unbelief as a minor fault, they even regard it rather as an infirmity than a crime, but the Lord thinketh not so. Faith is Jehovah's due, especially from those who claim to be the people of his pasture, and yet more emphatically from those whose long life has been crowded with evidences of his goodness (Spurgeon).

Are we struggling to hold firmly our confidence in God? Are we misinterpreting the dealings of the Lord? Do we lack serenity of assurance and firmness of faith? There would be no warning in Scripture if it was not a real danger. As the Israelites forgot the goodness of the Lord and His deliverance for them from Egypt, we too can quickly forget all the goodness the Lord has demonstrated toward us throughout our lifetime. We are immersed in the difficulties of today and we have selective amnesia about all the faithfulness of the Lord. While we ought to be looking at His perfect track record, we see only our current circumstances and our hearts tremble. Have our lives been “crowded with evidences of His goodness”? Our faith and confidence in God should reflect the immeasurable goodness, mercy, and grace He has lavishly poured out on us.

In Colossians 2:5, Paul rejoices because of their “stability of faith in Christ” (NASB). Their faith had a steadfastness, firmness, and constancy that should be the goal of every believer. We want to reject any wavering and unbelief we see in our hearts, and again look confidently to our trustworthy Lord, regardless of the mountain or the valley we are traveling. “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)

Let’s pray through Psalm 95, putting away all unbelief and lack of confidence in our God, and renew a steadfast trust in Him alone.

Make a joyful noise

95:1-4 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.

Let’s pray:

▫️We would joyfully, from the heart, sing to our Lord and the rock of our salvation. When we are faced with troubles, it would not be cause for fear or lack of confidence, but it would be a new circumstance in which we can rest in the faithfulness of the Lord.

▫️We would come to Him with thankfulness, remembering how crowded our lives have been with the goodness of the Lord. What can we be thankful for right now?

▫️The greatness of our God would help us to place our trust in Him for today’s troubles, knowing He has new mercies for this new day.

▫️In His hands are the depths of the earth and the heights of the mountains. Because He rules over all, we would not doubt His power to do the impossible. Because all belongs to Him and He is the possessor of heaven and earth, we would trust that He will provide all we need.

He is our God

95:6-7c Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

Let’s pray:

▫️We would kneel in both body and spirit to the Lord our Maker. We would not think that we know better than He does how our lives should go, but rather would we trust that He will always do what is best for us.

▫️We would love our Shepherd and the Guardian of our souls. We would believe our Shepherd will protect, provide, and guide us.

Do not harden your hearts

95:7d-11 Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”

Let’s pray:

▫️Today, if we have been pricked in the heart about some area of unbelief, we would not harden our hearts and test the Lord with our doubting.

▫️We would take diligent care of our hearts to not go astray. The Lord Himself would keep us and hold fast to us, working in our hearts what will help us to persevere until the end.

▫️We would not have an evil heart of unbelief, and so turn away from our living God.

▫️We would encourage and exhort our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we would listen to their encouragement and exhortation so that we would not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:12).

▫️We would prove that we are in Christ, by holding fast our confidence and the rejoicing of our hope firmly to the end (Hebrews 3:13).

▫️We would have a stability of faith in Christ no matter what our pilgrimage looks like (Colossians 2:5).

May the Lord do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, for His glory and our good. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Photo credit to eddrobertson

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