Title: Are You Living Wide Open?
Bible Book: Psalms 81 : 10b
Author: Franklin L. Kirksey
Subject: Passion; Dedication; Commitment
Objective:
Introduction
Are you living wide open? Dr. David Jeremiah writes about “passion” in his book titled, Life Wide Open.[1] Please understand in this message I am not referring to rushing around, I am referring to relying upon. Psalm 81:10b reads, “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.”
William MacDonald (1917-2007), former president of Emmaus Bible School writes, “This promise has sometimes been wrongly used by lazy preachers to justify any lack of preparation; all they have to do is open their mouth and the Lord will give them a message. But that is not the meaning at all!”[2]
Dr. Charles R. Swindoll shares, “I read of a young minister whose besetting sin was not laziness but conceit. He frequently boasted in public that all the time he needed to prepare his Sunday sermon was the few moments it took to walk to the church from the parsonage next door. You could probably guess what the congregation voted to do: They bought a new parsonage eight miles away.”[3]
Paul the apostle writes to Timothy, his son in the ministry in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Dr. John Henry Jowett (1864-1923) warned, “Preaching that costs nothing accomplishes nothing. If the study is a lounge, the pulpit is an impertinence.”[4]
John Thomas comments on Psalm 81:10b, “Probably the figure is taken from the feeding of young birds in the nest by the parent bird. The picture is one of total dependence and trust. Proud self-sufficiency shuts out the fullness of God. The first step to strength is to realize our own helplessness, simply to open the mouth wide, that God may fill it.”[5]
Rev. Andrew Murray (1828-1917) writes, “Beware in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what he can do.”[6]
Psalm 81 is a psalm of Asaph, one of David’s chief musicians. He writes the following: “Sing aloud to God our strength; Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob. Raise a song and strike the timbrel, The pleasant harp with the lute. Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, At the full moon, on our solemn feast day. For this is a statute for Israel, A law of the God of Jacob. This He established in Joseph as a testimony, When He went throughout the land of Egypt, Where I heard a language I did not understand. ‘I removed his shoulder from the burden; His hands were freed from the baskets. You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah ‘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. ‘But My people would not heed My voice, And Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, To walk in their own counsels. ‘Oh, that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, And turn My hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him, But their fate would endure forever. He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; And with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you.”
From the context of Psalm 81:10b note the following:
I. Note the word of divine legislation.
Psalm 81:1-5 reads, “Sing aloud to God our strength; Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob. Raise a song and strike the timbrel, The pleasant harp with the lute. Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, At the full moon, on our solemn feast day. For this is a statute for Israel, A law of the God of Jacob. This He established in Joseph as a testimony, When He went throughout the land of Egypt, Where I heard a language I did not understand.”
Not only do we see what God wrote we see what God wrought. God gave His people “a statute,” “a law,” and “a testimony,” which speaks of divine legislation.
Psalm 81 was written about Israel, but there is a spiritual lesson for the Church; and while it contains a promise for them, it contains a principle for us. These verses teach the principle of reverence for God.
Do you have a reverence for God? Dr. John Phillips (1927-2010) writes, “Running through the psalm is the sad note of missed opportunities. God in His goodness ordained seven great annual feasts for His people Israel. Four of them took place at the beginning of the religious year and three at the beginning of the civil year. God wanted to gather His people in holiness and happiness around Himself. But the neglected feasts were sad evidence of neglected opportunity.”[7]
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) wrote the following:
Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’[8]
II. Note the wonder of divine liberation.
Psalm 81:6-12 reads, “I removed his shoulder from the burden; His hands were freed from the baskets. You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah ‘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. ‘But My people would not heed My voice, And Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, To walk in their own counsels.” These words and those that follow form a type of annual sermon associated with the sacred memory of God’s great deliverance. It was a happy memory and this is a holy memorial. Rev. Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) explains, “It was a precept binding upon all the tribes that a sacred season should be set apart to commemorate the Lord’s mercy; and truly it was but the Lord’s due.”[9] Whether it refers to the Feast of Tabernacles or the remembrance of God’s deliverance, in the Passover, we are not absolutely certain. You can find Scriptural support for either one. Psalm 81 was written about Israel, but there is a spiritual lesson for the Church; and while it contains a promise for them, it contains a principle for us. These verses teach the principle of remembrance of God.
Do you have a remembrance of God? Moses writes in Deuteronomy 8:11-20, “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end— then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ ‘And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God.”
Almighty God says to His people, “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it” (Psalm 81:10b). Dr. Albert Barnes (1798-1870) comments, “Possibly an allusion to young birds, when fed by the parent-bird. The meaning here is, ‘I can amply supply all your needs. You need not go to other gods—the gods of other lands—as if there were any deficiency in my power or resources; as if I were not able to meet your necessities. All your needs I can meet. Ask what you need—what you will; come to me and make any request with reference to yourselves as individuals or as a nation—to this life or the life to come—and you will find in me all abundant supply for all your needs, and a willingness to bless you commensurate with my resources.’ What is here said of the Hebrews may be said of the people of God at all times. There is not a want of our nature—of our bodies or our souls; a want pertaining to this life or the life to come—to ourselves, to our families, to our friends, to the church, or to our country—which God is not able to meet; and there is not a real necessity in any of these respects which he is not willing to meet. Why, then, should his people ever turn for happiness to the ‘weak and beggarly elements of the world’ (compare the notes at Galatians 4:9), as if God could not satisfy them? Why should they seek for happiness in vain amusements, or in sensual pleasures, as if God could not, or would not, supply the real needs of their souls?”[10]
Someone simply known as P. Prescott writes, “The manner of prayer is this — ‘Open thy mouth.’ The measure of prayer is this — ‘Open thy mouth wide.’”[11] To which, I might add, the mission of prayer is this — "Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it," thus completing the trinity of truth. The psalmist David writes about the Lord in Psalm 103:5b, “Who satisfies your mouth with good things.” Note the blessings to those who fear the Lord and follow His wisdom in Proverbs 8:21, “That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, That I may fill their treasuries.” Remember this is a proverb not a direct promise, it is a general principle.
James 1:16-17 reads, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
In the words of John Newton (1725-1807):
Thou art coming to a King,
large petitions with thee bring,
for His grace and power are such
none can ever ask too much.[12]
III. Note the woe of divine lamentation.
Psalm 81:13-16 reads, “Oh, that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, And turn My hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him, But their fate would endure forever. He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; And with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you.”
After pronouncing a litany of woes upon the Scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23:1-36), Jesus laments in Matthew 23:37, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”
Psalm 81 was written about Israel, but there is a spiritual lesson for the Church; and while it contains a promise for them, it contains a principle for us. These verses teach the principle of reliance upon God.
Do you have a reliance upon God? Jesus said in Matthew 6:24-34, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? ‘So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ‘Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Dr. Oliver Barclay (1919-2013) writes, “To spend an hour worrying on our knees is not prayer. Indeed, there are times when it is our duty, having committed a problem to God in prayer, to stop praying and to trust and to do the necessary work to arrive at a solution.”[13]
Sir William Temple (1628-1699) writes, “The abilities of man must fall short on one side or other, like too scanty a blanket when you are abed: if you pull it upon your shoulders, you leave your feet bare; if you thrust it down upon your feet, your shoulders are uncovered.”[14]
Dr. E. M. Bounds (1835-1913) writes, “Prayer is humbling work. It abases intellect and pride, crucifies vainglory and signs our spiritual bankruptcy, and all these are hard for flesh and blood to bear.”[15]
Drs. Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King share the following, “George Mueller [1805-1898] was a pastor in England during the nineteenth century. He was concerned that God’s people had become very discouraged. They no longer looked for God to do anything unusual. They no longer trusted God to answer prayers. They had so little faith. (Doesn’t that sound like many of our churches?)
God began to lead George to pray. George’s prayers were for God to lead him to a work that could only be explained by the people as an act of God. George wanted the people to learn that their God was a faithful, prayer-answering God. He came upon the verse in Psalm 81:10 that you read earlier: ‘Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.’ George began to seek God’s provisions for His work in a way that God would be pleased to provide. God began to lead George in a walk of faith that became an outstanding testimony to all who hear of his story.
When George felt led of God to do some work, he prayed for the resources needed, but told no one of the need. He wanted everyone to know that God had provided for the need only in answer to prayer and faith.”[16]
Dr. A. C. Gaebelein (1861-1945) comments on Psalm 81:10b, “Who is able to grasp the full meaning of the sentence! He is the omnipotent Lord; there is nothing too hard for the Lord. Open thy mouth, He says, as wide as you can, and I will fill it. Ask anything in My Name, He says in the New Testament, and I will do it. All He asks is obedience to Him, the yielding of the heart and will.”[17]
William Cowper (1731-1800) penned this powerful resolve in the fifth stanza of his hymn titled, “O for a Closer Walk with God”:
The dearest idol I have known,
Whate’er that idol be;
Help me to tear it from Thy throne
And worship only Thee.[18]
William Cowper’s words can serve as a prayer of repentance over the idolatry that keeps us from God’s very best. Dr. J. C. Ryle (1816-1900) writes, “We are all responsible to God for repentance.”[19] God’s people are either obstinate or obedient. What about you?
Conclusion
Psalm 81 is known as “An Appeal for Israel’s Repentance.” Do you need to repent?
Do you have a reverence for God?
Do you have a remembrance of God?
Do you have a reliance upon God?
Are you living wide open?
[1]David Jeremiah, Life Wide Open, Accessed: 02/17/14, http://www.amazon.com/Life-Wide-Open-David-Jeremiah/dp/1591452864#reader_1591452864 .
[2]William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), 673-674.
[3]Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1998), 457-458.
[4]Albert M. Wells, Jr., Inspiring Quotations Contemporary & Classical, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1988), #2166, 162-163.
[5]The Biblical Illustrator, ed. Joseph S. Exell, “Open thy mouth wide,” J. Thomas, M. A., Database © 2012 WORDsearch Corp.
[6]Edythe Draper, Draper's Book of Quotations for the Christian World, #8772, 481, Database © 2009 WORDsearch Corp.
[7]John Phillips, The John Phillips Commentary Series – Exploring Psalms, Volume One: An Expository Commentary.
[8]John Greenleaf Whittier, “Maud Muller,” (1856).
[9]C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. IV, Psalm LXXIX To CIII, Second Edition, (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1883), 27.
[10]Albert Barnes, Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament, Database © 2010 WORDsearch Corp.
[11]Illustrator, ed. Exell, “An Invitation to Prayer,” P. Prescott, Database © 2012 WORDsearch Corp.
[12]John Newton, “Ask What I Shall Give Thee”.
[13]John Blanchard, The Complete Gathered Gold, Evangelical Press 2006, 454, Database © 2007 WORDsearch Corp.
[14]Sir William Temple, The Works of Sir William Temple, (London: S. Birt, H. Lintot, and J. and R. Tonson, 1750), 164.
[15]Blanchard, Gold, 465, Database © 2007 WORDsearch Corp.
[16]Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King, Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God, (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2004), 110, Database © 2011 by WORDsearch Corp.
[17]A. C. Gaebelein, The Book of Psalms, (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1897), 316.
[18]William Cowper, “O For A Closer Walk With God,” (1772).
[19]J. C. Ryle, “Repentance,” Sermon Notes, (Luke 13:3).
By Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, pastor First Baptist Church of Spanish Fort 30775 Jay Drive Spanish Fort, Alabama 36527
Author of Sound Biblical Preaching: Giving the Bible a Voice Available on Amazon.com and WORDsearchbible.com http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Biblical-Preaching-Giving-Bible/dp/1594577684 / http://www.wordsearchbible.com/products/Sound_Biblical_Preaching_1476.html / http://www.webspawner.com/users/franklinlkirksey [email protected] / (251) 626-6210 © February 23, 2014 All Rights Reserved
