Psalm 81
August 28, 2022
For the director of music. According to gittith. Of Asaph.
Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout aloud to the God of Jacob!
Begin the music, strike the timbrel,
play the melodious harp and lyre.
Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon,
and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival;
this is a decree for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
When God went out against Egypt,
he established it as a statute for Joseph.
I heard an unknown voice say:
“I removed the burden from their shoulders;
their hands were set free from the basket.
In your distress you called and I rescued you,
I answered you out of a thundercloud;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear me, my people, and I will warn you—
if you would only listen to me, Israel!
You shall have no foreign god among you;
you shall not worship any god other than me.
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.
“But my people would not listen to me;
Israel would not submit to me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
to follow their own devices.
“If my people would only listen to me,
if Israel would only follow my ways,
how quickly I would subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes!
Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,
and their punishment would last forever.
But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
with honey from the rock I would satisfy you” (NIV).
This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we join with your people of old, ancient Israel, who praised you jubilantly for setting them free from bondage in Egypt. We take our cue from their glad-hearted, enthusiastic, celebrative singing and instrumentation, their regular festivals of praise. We too lift our hearts and voices to you in praise—privately, in our homes, and in our weekly gatherings as a church. May our praises be jubilant, may our freedom in Jesus Christ—freedom from bondage to sin, Satan, and death—be precious to us. May we remember with renewed joy that you are our strength and our deliverer.
In our renewed joy and praise, we also want to renew our hearing of your voice. Your old-covenant people often refused to hear, refused to listen, turned away from you and your words in the law. They went after false gods and you sent them away in their stubbornness of heart to follow their own ideas. Lord, save us from being like them. Indeed, you have saved us in a better covenant, the new covenant sealed by the blood of Jesus. Jesus Christ has stood in for us as our representative and substitute.
Where we, like ancient Israel, failed, he succeeded. He always listened, always trusted, always obeyed. We stand robed in his righteousness. You have subdued our enemies—the world, the flesh, and the devil. The risen Christ has sent his Holy Spirit to live in us. You have given us new hearts that, at their root, desire to trust you, submit to you, and walk in your ways.
We bless you for this salvation. We have heard the voice of Jesus in the gospel and we have followed him. We ask that we would go further, grow deeper, and make more progress in listening to him in Scripture, in turning away from idols to trust him alone, and in experiencing the sweetness and satisfaction of the life that he gives.
What amazing invitations and promises you make to us, Father, in this psalm. “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” Truly you have done this for us in Jesus Christ. Yet we also desire to live this out more fully, day by day. We confess our lack of trust, our shutting our mouths. You say, “With honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” Truly Jesus is sweet to our souls. Yet we also desire to live this out more fully, day by day. We confess our going after substitute sweeteners in the world. Renew our taste for you, for Jesus, for the Holy Spirit, and for your ways. Leave us not to the stubbornness of our flesh and to our own ideas about how to live. We turn and embrace afresh your voice in Scripture, your invitation to open wide our mouths, your promise of deep satisfaction, your superiority to all idols.
Father, as summer winds down and as the school year has begun to dawn, we pray for students, teachers, staff, administrators, and school boards in our community. Give wisdom, protection, and grace in this important task of our children’s and grandchildren’s education. Help our schools, Lord, in the challenges they face. Bless the students in our church family, younger and older; the teachers and school staff in our church family; our church family as represented in public schools, private schools, and home schooling. Through the influence of your Holy Spirit, of parents growing in wisdom, of our church family in its intergenerational relationships, and of the daily school experience, may the younger generation among us grow up to acclaim you as their strength; to praise you with jubilation; to trust you and not idols; to open wide their mouths and experience you, Lord Jesus, as the one who satisfies and delivers.
It is through you and for your name’s sake, Lord Jesus, that we pray today.
And all God’s people said, “Amen!”