AND I WILL FILL IT.
Psalm 81:10
Psalm 81 brings before us two quite distinct conditions of the people of God. In verses 1-7 they are enjoying God and in verses 11-16 ignoring God. Verses 8-10 are a warning and encouragement for them to move from the second condition to the first.
The picture on the front of this tract is a good example of how the relationship between the Christian and his saviour ought to be. In v10 we see a responsibility and a promise. The responsibility is that we open wide our mouths and the promise from God is that he will fill it.
The picture here is of fledglings in a nest with their mouths wide open to receive all the good things the parent birds have for them. It is a picture of total dependency and intense hunger. The word wide suggests urgency, need and priority. There is nothing half hearted about this. The mouth is wide open to grab as much as possible and to miss nothing.
This is what we are to do before the promise will be fulfilled. Almost all the great promises of scripture are conditional (1 Chron 7:14, Malachi 3:10, Psalm 81; 10). God is sovereign and he can work without our aid, but he chooses to work through his people, and his word requires them to be in a healthy spiritual state. He lays upon us responsibilities and demands obedience.
Come back to the fledgling in the nest. When the food goes into the mouth it provides nourishment, strength and health. God is promising this to us. He wants to fill us with all the things that will encourage and maintain spiritual growth. Is that what you want? Are you fed up with your own base desires? Are you weary with how sin and the world so appeal to you? When our life is saturated with God then assurance, enjoyment and satisfaction abound. It does not mean there will be no more problems, but v14 will then become a reality. ‘If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways, 14 how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!’
There is so much for us in Christ so why do we live on bread and water when there is a banqueting table available. How do we open our mouths wide? By using the means of grace, prayer, the Bible and fellowship. We need to stop waiting for something to happen and instead take the initiative in response to God’s promise.
God, in verses 11 – 16 of Psalm 81 speaks of ‘my people’. They belong to God but they do not listen to him. There are inevitable consequences of this……
V 12 God gave them over to follow their own sinful ways.
V 14 They were subdued by their enemies.
V 16 They were missing out on so many blessings.
I don’t want to pursue these, other than to ask, are they true of us? In other words which condition are we in? Are we enjoying God or ignoring him?
Perhaps our answer would be that neither is true of us. We are in between. So we are like the church in Laodicia, not hot or cold only lukewarm. If that is true surely we cannot be satisfied with this. The question we have to ask is, how do we get to the condition of enjoying God? The answer is given in verse 10, ‘Open wide your mouth and I will fill it”
