Scripture – “Hear me, my people, and I will warn you— if you would only listen to me, Israel! You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not worship any god other than me. I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. “But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. “If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways, how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes! Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever. But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.””
Psalms 81:8-16 NIV
Observation – God is telling the Israelites, if they would only listen to him (obey him) he would satisfy their physical needs, he would bless them by subduing their enemies and he would provide them with the finest of wheat and honey from the rock. God uses the word listen three times in these nine verses. In Proverbs 1:23 God says, “If you had responded to my rebuke I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you”. God desires to bless us but he is not going to when we are living in disobedience. Think about having a child that you love and you want to give them everything they need but they don’t do what you ask of them and act like their friends parents are their parents (False gods) and only come to you when they are in huge trouble and forget about you when things are going their way. You are not going bless them like you want to because they are living in opposition to you and what you know is best for them. This is often times how we treat Jesus and yet we wonder why we don’t have peace and purpose in our lives.
Application – Obey Jesus and watch how he will work in your life. Examine yourself and see if there are areas of your life that you are withholding from Jesus. If you confess these sins and obey him God promises to pour out his heart to you and make his thoughts known to you. Can you think of anything better than that?!? To have the creator of the universe live with this type of deep intimacy with you?
Prayer – Jesus, I pray for me, that I would listen to you every minute of everyday so that I can enjoy your blessings and walk with you all the time. Amen.
What are you doing? Do it better 