Psalm 81 ~ Sing aloud to GOD our strength

Cedar Falls, Arkansas

Psalm 81

English Standard Version, David Cochran Audio


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 of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph
when he went out over the land of Egypt.
I hear a language I had not known:
6 “I relieved your 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. 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 with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”



We speak so many different languages. Some people speak the language of food. Some the language of flowers or gardening. Some the language of praise. Some the language of constant bitter complaint. Sometimes we are tired of hearing. I know I was kidded today for something I once sang.  Our words matter to people. 

We are all complainers, but we truly contemplate change - it is so bewildering.  The language of change.  I saw today a complaint from Woody Allen saying, "Nothing lasts." Yet really, there is a Psalm that says one day follows the next. And it goes along with both thoughts. Life is like the Mississippi River, pushing us along.

It is how we face life. With hope or fear. My house has a college graduate. It is the exact mirror image of a High School recent graduate. Change like water running over waterfalls. The cross roads of life. We have to face it with hope. Even on the days it is overwhelming, boring or just medium.

Today was a day of on going thunder. Not rain, but thunder from clouds.  Even on the days when the heavens speak. We can say it was an ordinary day, or we can rejoice in what was different about the day.

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

Even waterfalls have a destination.

In You, O Lord, we have our being. Help us to abide in You and dwell in hope, faith and Love.
In the name of Jesus Christ Our LORD.   Amen.

Psalm 84:5
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.


Ezekiel 43:2
and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory.


Psalm 77:18
The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook.


Psalm 42:7
Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.

Psalm 130:1

 A song of ascents. Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD

Psalm 24:3

Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place?

I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
In distress you called, and I delivered you

Revelation 19:6

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: "Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns."

Psalm 16

 Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
² I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
     I have no good apart from you.”

³ As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
    in whom is all my delight.

⁴ The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
    their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
    or take their names on my lips.

⁵ The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
    you hold my lot.
⁶  The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

⁷ I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
    in the night also my heart instructs me.
⁸  I have set the Lord always before me;
    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
    my flesh also dwells secure.
¹⁰ For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
     or let your holy one see corruption.

¹¹ You make known to me the path of life;
    in your presence there is fullness of joy;
    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

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