Open wide

Psalm 81

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. —Psalm 81:10

This verse is a direct quote from the preamble to the Ten Commandments: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Thou shalt not; thou shalt not; thou shalt..." (Exodus 20:2).

Here in this psalm, however, where you might expect to find another list of rules, God offers a grace-note: “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it."

Israel's history, like mine, is a tale of underachievement, yet God does not call for greater effort. He rather asks us to lay our "doing" down and receive what He has to offer.

Trying to keep a bunch of rules and make ourselves better is a losing cause. I know because I tried it for years. God alone is the source of goodness for He alone is good.  If we open our mouths wide He will, in his time, fill us with love, joy, peace, patience, and all the other goodness we admire in Him and seek for ourselves. He will feed us with the "finest of the wheat," and satisfy us with "honey from the rock" —sweetness flowing from an unexpected source.(Psalm 81:16).

Weary, working, burdened one,

Wherefore toil you so?

Cease your doing; all was done

Long, long ago. —James Proctor

David Roper
1.26.20