Lessons From the Psalms - Psalm 81

[00:00:07] Welcome to Lessons From the Psalms. This is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. On this podcast we will be going over the book of Psalms.

[00:00:22] Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this psalm today. I pray that you would reveal to everyone listening how much you truly love each and every one of them. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

[00:00:37] This is Psalm 81, beginning in verse 1.

[00:00:42] 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.

[00:01:03] For this is a statute for Israel, a law of the God of Jacob.

[00:01:09] 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.

[00:01:20] 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. Say law.

[00:01:39] 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.

[00:01:54] 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.

[00:02:10] So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart to walk in their own counsels. O 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.

[00:02:31] 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.

[00:02:48] Friends, Psalm 81 is yet another psalm attributed to Asaph. It was written to the chief musician, and it says that it was played on an instrument of gath.

[00:03:03] Unfortunately, I don't know what type of instrument that was, but what that tells me is originally that it was played to a musical instrument as part of a worship service.

[00:03:16] So this psalm begins as a psalm of praise, but then it becomes a psalm of admonition.

[00:03:25] So friends, let's spend just a few minutes to break this psalm down.

[00:03:30] Number one says,

[00:03:31] 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.

[00:03:45] Now friends, this is something we should do all the time. This is something we ordinarily do when we go to church on Sunday.

[00:03:54] We praise and worship God, and that's part of pretty much every church service in our world today.

[00:04:03] So we should have an attitude of praise. Basically, throughout the week, we should be thankful for what God has given us, and we should be quick to praise him.

[00:04:17] What I'd like to do is go over verses 6 and 7.

[00:04:21] It says,

[00:04:21] I removed his shoulder from the burden. His hands were freed from the baskets.

[00:04:28] You called in trouble, and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder.

[00:04:35] I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

[00:04:39] Selah.

[00:04:41] Friends, here, God is reminding his people, Israel, that he has delivered them from Egyptian bondage, where they were slaves for over 400 years.

[00:04:55] Now what did they do when God did that?

[00:04:58] Well, let's listen to verses 8, 9, and 10.

[00:05:01] Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you.

[00:05:06] O Israel, if you will listen to me, there shall be no foreign god among you, nor shall you worship any foreign god.

[00:05:17] I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

[00:05:22] Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

[00:05:26] Friends, the people turned to foreign gods.

[00:05:31] They are breaking the first commandment in these first verses, and God is saying, come back to me.

[00:05:39] So my second point is, hear, O my people, and I will admonish you.

[00:05:46] But let's look at the end of verse 10.

[00:05:49] Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

[00:05:52] Friends, God is going to meet our needs if we turn to him.

[00:05:57] And that is all God is asking for in this particular psalm.

[00:06:04] And this is actually God speaking here.

[00:06:07] Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

[00:06:11] So this is one of the few psalms where God is actually speaking to his people.

[00:06:18] But my people would not heed my voice, and Israel would have none of me.

[00:06:25] So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart to walk in their own counsels.

[00:06:34] Friends, once again, God is speaking here himself.

[00:06:39] This is actually God speaking.

[00:06:41] So he heard what the people were doing.

[00:06:45] He saw what the people were doing.

[00:06:47] He pleaded with the people to turn back to him.

[00:06:52] And let's listen to his plea in verse 13.

[00:06:56] Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways.

[00:07:03] I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their adversaries.

[00:07:10] The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to him, but their fate would endure forever.

[00:07:19] Friends, my third point today is I would subdue their enemies.

[00:07:26] And friends, if we review verses 13, 14, and 15,

[00:07:32] God is wanting the same thing from his people, even as we live our lives today, in the year 2024.

[00:07:42] Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in his ways.

[00:07:49] Now, friends, Israel was the chosen people that God chose originally.

[00:07:56] However, the Bible tells us that if we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior,

[00:08:03] then we are grafted in to his family.

[00:08:06] So we may not be Jewish by, you know, by birth, but we are grafted in to the Jewish people,

[00:08:16] and we are now his chosen people as well.

[00:08:20] Friends, we need to give our lives to God.

[00:08:25] We need to receive Jesus into our lives as our Lord and Savior.

[00:08:32] And he will provide for us and take care of us.

[00:08:38] Friends, please join me again soon as we take a closer look at Psalm 82.