Open thy mouth wide

“I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.”(Psalm 81:10)

Hello, my friend…

It is my pleasure to come to you once again. I trust you are having a good start to your week, and I pray you find this message both challenging and encouraging. Let’s share the next few moments together, shall we?

Today’s scripture always makes me smile. Not only for the message of provision it gives, but also for the visual I see every time I read it. I can picture a bird’s nest filled with new hatchlings. Their mother (or in some cases, their father) has gone off to get food for them. As the parent approaches holding (in my visual) a juicy worm to share with them, I see them poking their beaks out of the nest, looking upward and mouths open, anticipating their next meal. While that is an accurate picture, I believe this verse has so much more to share than just that.

In this chapter, the LORD is speaking out against the worldiness and ungodly behavior of His people. He had rescued them from their enemies and carried them to safety. Yet they had turned away to other gods, worshipped other beings. As is human nature, once we realize we are safe and provided for, we often turn away from the One Who gave it all to us. If nothing else, our regular reading and study of scripture reminds us that it is God Who gives us all things – our food, our water, our air, our homes, our jobs, our friends, and even our very lives. Over and over as we read through the entirety of the Bible we see this pattern repeat itself: peace and safety, disobedience and rebellion, captivity, calling out to God for salvation, deliverance and provision, peace and safety, repeat.

Scripture tells us that out of our mouths comes the fullness of our hearts. My friend, what is your normal, daily conversation like? Do you find yourself complaining, murmering, doubting and questioning, or do you constantly find reasons and ways to praise God and offer Him thanksgiving for His many blessings in your life? The secular world has a teaching that “You become what you think about most of the time.” Business and personal development courses teach the importance of thanksgiving and the act of giving and benevolence. They didn’t come up with that on their own. They learned it from biblical teaching. Yet the very ones who should be living by this standard are the ones who often forget it first and have to be reminded by secular humanists. Again, daily communication with the Father and our constant feeding on the bread of His word will keep us in line on this issue.

Which brings us to the next point: sharing our testimony with others. God reminded the Hebrew children that He is their God and it was He Who brought them out of the land of Egypt (slavery, bondage, and hopelessness). We tend to revert to believing that it was us all the time. WE took the AA Twelve Step program and got set free from our addictions. WE took the higher-paying job and that is how we got out of debt and built a nest-egg. WE chose the right life partner and because of that choice we were put in a position to succeed. We justify or explain every good thing that has happened to us by pointing all the glory and wisdom back to ourselves. If it weren’t for God, we wouldn’t have had the brains to pick the job, the help we needed, or the partner. Even if we had been offered any or all of these, it would have done no good without the intelligence God gave us and the abilities He placed within us.

In the Army we learned a very basic tenet by which to live: “The more you bleed in peacetime, the less you bleed in war.” In peacetime we learned tactics and weapons that we would later use in combat. We became proficient and very familiar to the point that these became an extension of our persons. The tactics and maneuvers we learned were drilled into us to the point they were second-nature for us. When they were needed, we didn’t have to think about it, we just performed. We had learned so well that they had become a habit, a way of life, performed without hesitation or thought. That assured our success in combat.

The same is true of us as Christians. We read the Bible and pray faithfully while all is well. We read the book of Job when we are on top of the world. We raise our voices and hands in worship even when the enemy of our souls is silent because we know there is a coming day when all will NOT be well, we will not be sitting atop the world, and the enemy will come upon us as a thief in the night. We must always be prepared and vigilant because he is always looking for a weak spot in our armor or a weak moment in our lives. Many have fallen to his temptations and vices simply because they were physically fatigued, sick, or lonely. We must always remember that Jehovah God is our God, and it is He Who delivered us out of our own personal land of Egypt – whether it was drug addiction, sexual deviation, alcoholism, debt, depression, or any of the other various situations out of which we cried to God for help.

In our daily reminders of previous times, we have the story of God’s redemption in our lives that we are commanded to share with others. We are to go into all the world, sharing the gospel, teaching the people to observe all God has told us to, delivering those who are in bondage through the power of Jesus Christ, setting free the captives, and telling them He is coming again soon. I believe all of this (and more) is included in this one simple verse for us today.

Today, my friend, I encourage you to lift up your hands that hang down and strengthen your weak knees. Stand strong and bold as you share with others the good news of what God has done and is doing in your life today. Lift up your head, open your mouth wide (in worship and praise to Him), and, yes, receive from Him what you need today.

Be blessed.