January 22
Reading: Psalm 81
To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.
1 Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
2 Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our feast day.
4 For it is a statute for Israel,
a rule of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph
when he went out over the land of Egypt.
I hear a language I had not known:
6 “I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
7 In distress you called, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Selah
8 “Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
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.
11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.
13 Oh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 I would soon subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.
16 But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
In Psalm 81 Yahweh speaks to His people in their distress. The introduction to the Lord’s speech is in verses 1-5. Here the congregation is invited to praise the Lord and sing to Him because He has spoken and revealed His testimony in all Israel and Egypt and everywhere.
Verse 5 ends with a curious line, “I hear a language I had not known.” How is this? God speaks here in Hebrew. In the Old Testament, He has always spoken in Hebrew. The original author and readers spoke Hebrew. How can they not know the language? Well, sometimes people hear, but they do not hear. Some people sit in a gospel-preaching church for 50 years and do not hear the gospel. They have ears but they do not hear.
What about you? Do you need to open your ears to what God has always been saying to you?
And what has God said? The summary of His words is found in verses 6-16.
In verses 6-7 the Lord presents Himself as the Savior of Israel. He saved them from slavery in Egypt. In verses 8-10 the Lord presents Himself as the teacher of Israel. He is teaching them what it is like to be in a relationship with their Savior God. In verses 11-16 the Lord is explaining the disobedience of Israel and that He “gave them over to their stubborn hearts.” God also expresses His sadness and desire that they would return to Him. God wants to care for them.
We see in the final verses of this psalm the affection of the Lord for His people. I think of Jesus words to Jerusalem.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! Matthew 23:37