Psalm 81: 8-10
“Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you! O Israel, if you will listen to Me! There shall be no foreign god among you; nor shall you worship any foreign god. I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.”
I read that tonight, and it really smacked me upside the head. The very last line hit me first: “open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” Then I went back and read the rest. Here is God, reaching out to a people that had continually turned away from Him to worship false gods (which are no gods at all), and promising to give them their fill of all they need.
Hmmmmm…..we don’t have any false gods today, do we? I mean, there’s nothing in our lives that we give priority over God, is there? When I think of idols, I usually think of little statues of wood or metal, and I can honestly say I don’t have any of those. But if we define an idol as a would-be-god, an object that we give pre-eminence to over God, then I know I’m guilty. Anyone else? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Then I saw that God is reminding them that He is the reason they are no longer slaves in Egypt. He’s reminding them that He Himself delivered them from bondage. Their deliverence from slavery in Egypt is a picture of what Jesus did on the cross, delivering those who would put their faith in Him from slavery to sin. Israel never quit looking back at Egypt fondly, and I do the same thing. I continually find myself looking back at the sin in my life, and yearing for it. Why? It never satisfied before! Why should it satisfy me now?
God then promises that if we will open up our mouths, He will fill us. It’s a picture of a baby bird opening wide as his momma brings him breakfast. It’s a picture of trusting God for our provision, instead of bowing down to our many idols. It’s a picture of believing that He really is everything we need, and we have all we need in Him.
An idol is a “seen thing.” Basically, our “seen things” take the place of the One unseen Who alone can satisfy us.
I pray that we will all begin to tear down our idols.
The Wading Pool 