“OPEN WIDE THY MOUTH”

PSALM 81:8-10

In our opening text we find the Lord speaking to His people, the nation of Israel. He challenges them to listen to what He has to say. He goes on to address the loyalty of the house of Israel to Him as their God. We see in our text that the Lord uses a deep word in relations to his communication with Israel. This word is the word “harken”. The word harken is a three fold word that means to hear, to give attendance to, and to obey. The Lord desired the children of Israel to harken unto Him. He wanted them to hear what He had to say, to pay attention to what He had to say, and then obey what He had to say. 

He then goes on to describe what their harkening would look like. He said that if they would harken unto Him that they would not have any other gods before Him. He told them that they would not worship other gods but Him for He is the Lord their God! Why did God need to address this? He needed to address this because there were people who claimed to be close to God, but in reality they were far from God. 

Sadly, I fear the same can be said of many Christians they boast in their hearts of how close they are to God, and how much they harken to the Word of God while the secular gods of this world still hold root in their life and in their world. God condemned this in Israel in the Old Testament through the prophet Isaiah, and then Christ himself condemned it in the New Testament by saying, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” (Matthew 15:8) 

God expects that if we would harken to Him and yield to Him as we should there should be exclusivity with God in our life. We give no other rivals to reign in our hearts before Him. We give no pleasure the throne of our heart whereon He should be sitting. He is our God.

We see in verse ten that the Lord reminds the nation of Israel what He has done. “I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt…” (Psalm 81:10) The Lord had exercised His mighty hand on behalf of the children of Israel before all the gods of Egypt and delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh. 

Even so, the Lord has stretched forth His mighty hand on behalf of you and me to deliver us from the hand of the Devil and the fate of death. As sinners, we were captive to the penalty of death for our sin. (Romans 6:23) However, God in His love made a way of escape for us through the cross of Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:8) Now we have the opportunity to receive Jesus Christ as our Saviour and He will save us from the Lake of Fire. (Romans 10:13)

We find that after God reminds Israel of what He had done for them He promises them what He can do. “...open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.” (Psalm 81:10) I believe these words are not just applicable to the children of Israel, but I believe that we have in this a promise that is valid for us today in our lives. We have a promise from God that if we will open our mouths before Him that He is able to fill it. We have a God who is more than capable of meeting our needs. For those of you in Sunday School today you remember the verse that we had from last week. “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (Jeremiah 33:3) God wants to hear from us and He wants to meet our needs, if we would simply open our mouths before Him. What must we do to open our mouth?

WE MUST OPEN OUR MOUTH IN PRAYER

• “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)

WE MUST OPEN OUR MOUTH IN FAITH

• “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

WE MUST OPEN OUR MOUTH IN EXPECTATION

• “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,” (Ephesians 3:20)

The children of Israel chose to ignore God’s invitation. They failed to harken unto Him, they failed to recognize his past mercy, and they failed to open their mouths before Him. (Psalm 81:11-13)

I challenge the people of God this morning to not make the same mistake. Jesus is calling! How long will you ignore it? This morning He is calling some of you to salvation; How long will you resist His call. Some of you He is calling to harken unto Him; How long will you resist His call? For some of you he is pressing on your heart the need to bring your petitions to Him; How long will you wait? Will you do business with the Lord today?