Get a Mouth Full

Scripture:

Psa. 81:10     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.

Observation:

This Psalm brings us to the Festival of Booths celebrating the Israelites' release from Egypt. It was a reminder of God’s provision for his people. God had provided for freedom in the past and would provide for his people in the present and into the future. Just as young birds open their mouths wide for their parents to feed them, so the children of Israel were to open their mouths and allow God to fill them with all that they needed. The result was a mouthful of God’s provision.

Application:

We are also challenged to remember that God has saved us. We have served our own time in slavery to sin, but Jesus has set us free. The Israelites celebrated this freedom from Egypt in an annual celebration of booths — or living out in tents or simple “booths” made of twigs and foliage. It was a time of camping out as families and remembering the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness.

When I think what God has done for me I am overwhelmed. I was never one who lived in horrible sin, but I was headed in my own direction. The Lord intervened in my life and led me in a direction that I never would have imagined. It’s important for me to take time to remember that it is God who has led me on this journey of life and thank him for his direction.

While we remember and praise God for the past, we must always live in the present. We are challenged on a daily basis to open our mouths wide and allow God to fill us. Notice the human response here. God does not pry our mouths open to feed us. Instead, we are to open our mouths — not just a little bit, but wide open and allow God to fill it until our mouths are full. He will fill us to the point of complete and total satisfaction, if only we will allow him.

Parent birds fill the mouths of their young with the things that are good for them. Food for nourishment is provided — the biggest and the juiciest worms! Our heavenly Father only wants to provide the very best for us when it comes to spiritual food. Today we are being challenged to open our mouths wide and allow God to fill us with everything that he has for us. However, I’m afraid that far too often we become distracted and we either forget to open our mouths, or maybe just open them a little, putting ourselves on a spiritual diet. Those little birds who are being fed by their parents open their mouths and fight for their parents’ attention — “feed me, feed me, feed me!”

What if we approached our spiritual lives in the very same way — with mouths wide open and asking God daily, “feed me, feed me, feed me!” Then we would receive a mouthful of spiritual food from the Lord, sustaining us day to day so that when the time comes we will celebrate his continual provision in our lives. It’s time to have a mouth full from the Lord. Turn toward him in expectation, opening our mouths wide and allowing him to fill us over and over again.

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for your overflowing love for us that sustains us and more.  Amen.