September 10, 2025 Devo

September 10th, 2025

Walking Through the Psalms
"If only you would listen to his voice today! 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.” – Psalm 95:7-9 (NLT)
“The Scars of Hardheadedness”

Did you ever ignore good advice, only to suffer from not heeding it? I have. One that sticks out in my mind was when I got into the habit with my friends of riding or giving rides with someone sitting on the handlebars. Some of you will remember those days. And of course, we rode with no helmets. My parents saw me once and told me not to do it again. They said it was dangerous. But did I listen? Of course not. I was young. I was invincible. And, of course, I was smarter than they were.
Then one day, I was riding on the handlebars just a few blocks from home, and my friend and I crashed into the street. I barely missed getting crushed by a car. But I did tear the skin off my right knee, and the wound was filled with dirt and pieces of gravel. I limped home in tears and embarrassment. The cleaning of the wound on my leg didn’t hurt nearly as much as the barrage of “I told you so’s” I received. I still carry the scars of that crash on my knee and in my memories.
I thought of that incident when I read our verse for today. I thought about how often we become hard-headed and eventually, hard-hearted with God. Like a loving parent, God gives us guidance, warnings, and rules to follow. But we often treat Him like our earthly parents and blow Him off. We think we know better. We think we’ll beat the odds. We think we’re smart, in control, and invincible. So we follow our own path and do things our way. Until we crash and burn.
The psalmist reminds us not to be that way. God is wise. God is loving. He has no desire to keep us from having fun or enjoying life. But He IS committed to keeping us healthy and safe. His guidance is for our GOOD. His warnings are for our PROTECTION. Listening to His voice keeps us away from where we shouldn’t be. Listening to His voice allows Him to guide us into the kind of people He wants us to be. Don’t be hardheaded or allow yourself to become hardhearted. If you do, you’ll end up like I did that day…battered and humiliated and limping home with a life-long scar. That’s God’s Word for you today.