Psalm 81
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.
God's storehouse is famed for His willingness to Bless. Always Un-empty. Abundant. Sometimes called His Treasuries. These store unusual items. Name some of your's.
The Scriptures are neither and never 1/2 full or 1/2 empty.
They are the Word of the Lord.
An every day 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 just the 10 Commandments, this is every Word coming from His mouth:
Romans 15:4
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
More important than empty or full.
The LORD who doesn't change. Even in Deuteronomy - Christians don't find very exciting, and yet importantly 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. Prayer is alive and we reach by love into the hearts of the people we love.
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 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.
This week I was so fortunate to meet a young woman who told me she had never been prayed for and had never seen anyone pray. She was radiant with her fiance after we prayed this together:
Father God, We know John walked with Jesus. John told us and described You as this: God is Love. In John 1, we learn You are the Light that shines in all of mankind. You are the giver and bringer of Life.
Your path is the one we want. Telling us how to be most abundantly the people you created us to be. Remembering and Acknowledging the Gifts You have put in us to be exactly the person You created us to be. We ask you to guide us on this path. Forgive us in Jesus when we are flawed or sin. Protect us. Rejoicing with You in the Life You give us and create. Be in us and let us be glad to have You Live in us. Amen in Jesus.
That shining face then invited Jesus to bless and live in her siblings she named with abundant Love. Her face shone with the Joy God puts in Love. Let's all be the Place God would want to Dwell.
What a Blessing to be there, to see this. Thank You God.
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, the letter I wrote Edward's client urging them not to fire their sales force a year ago. Saying a farmer must work the ground given to him and put the seeds in the ground. Father God, next in our concerns, what we want most is that all our loved ones come to Heaven with You. We plant seeds, and yet only You give the Call. We ask you to Call for all of the people we love and tenderly care for.
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 for Mercy and Your Will. Thanks Be to God! Amen.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves †
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