Psalm 81 ~ open your mouth wide

I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. ~ Mark 10:15


Psalm 81

Max McLean Audio Bible, English Standard Version

1 Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
2 Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our feast day.

4 For it is a statute for Israel,
a rule [just decree] of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph
when he went out over [against] the land of Egypt.
I hear a language I had not known:
6 “I relieved your [his; also next line] shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
7 In distress you called, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah [quarreling]. Selah
8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.
13 Oh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 I would soon subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.
16 But he would feed you [Israel; Hebrew him] with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”


Is the glass 1/2 full or empty? In this Psalm we are given a statute, a rule, a just decree and seemingly just the hope to just open our mouths to God's blessings. It is both a Psalm of hope and an appeal to us to have more faith in our souls and actions.
The Scriptures are neither 1/2 full or 1/2 empty. They are the Word of the Lord. A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Except in the Scriptures it is much more vital, living and important! The law isn't the 10 commandments every word coming from His mouth, it is:

2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

More important than empty or full. It's the LORD who doesn't change. Times are difficult during this intense year. Even in Deuteronomy - Christians don't find very exciting, Deuteronomy 5 is about Father God wanting to willingly bless. Just like this Psalm. Prayer isn't the dry need to cultivate a needy Deity.

What we usually pray to God is not that His will be done, but that He approves ours.

~Helga Bergold Gross

Prayer is about opening ourselves to the willingness of God. Just as the LORD tested the Children of Israel at Meribah As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in schools. Prayer is a conversation!

What is the factor of variation seeming to exist in this Psalm? It is within your soul and my soul. It is the expectation God hears our prayer conversations. That this life is meaningful and the works and words accomplished in them matter to Him. Greatly.

Psalm 126 is a great example of this. It tells us of great blessings to come and the desire for more blessings. And ends with:

He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him.

Shouts of joy are required!

Father God, each day help us to cultivate the garden you've given us for our lives. Help us to work in Your Light. Help us to weed out what is not holy in Your eyes, even when we cherish that weed. Help us to see, diligently, Your blessings even when it is rain. Let us be children of Light even when we work with fertilizer. And in the reading of Your Word, help us also to be do-ers, let our lives reflect Your work in our garden. Bless our garden, like a mustard seed, which we took and planted in the garden You've give us. Let it grow and became a tree, so the birds of the air perched in its branches may sing to Your glory. Help us not to cultivate the garden for our use alone, but to be blessings to others with a generous heart.

Father God, teach us to let our words, our time, our talent be the meditation of the heart You hope for. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. In the holiest name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

<><