“Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me!” Psalm 81

In this psalm, Asaph urges the use of 5 musical instruments for worship: the human voice, the tambourine, the “sweet” lyre, the harp & the trumpet (1-3). The various celebrations & times of feasting were God’s statute & rule (4) when he relieved Israel from Egypt’s burden (5-6). In distress Israel called & God delivered them (7a). Their deliverance was followed by testing “at the waters of Meribah” (7c). What was the test? Exodus 17:7 gives us the divine commentary: “…they tested the LORD saying, ‘Is the LORD among us, or not?'” I can’t help but think that the Coronavirus pandemic is a time of testing for all of us. Oh that God’s people would shine with full assurance and confidence that God is indeed among us, and we can trust him to strengthen our faith and sustain us with HIMSELF during this time. Israel’s failure to trust & obey the only true God in time of need was not only Israel’s failure but also that of Moses & Aaron as well (Numbers 20). Israel wouldn’t listen to God but instead resorted to idolatry (8-9). The ESV Devotional Psalter, p. 81 says, “The long, sad story of human history is of man’s endless quest to find something other than God to satisfy his deepest soul-longings.” Truly it was easier to get Israel out of Egypt than it was to get Egypt (and her gods) out of Israel. Israel’s sad history is often our/my history: we don’t listen to God’s voice; we don’t submit to him (11). The fitting consequence to their stubborness was to “[give] them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels” (12). That was an awful and needless tragedy. God yearns for his people – for me! – to listen to him & walk in his ways (13). Thank God, Jesus has already subdued my enemies by his death and resurrection (15). As I listen to God daily & follow his ways as he has revealed them to us in his Word, I enter into the victory that is already mine. The “finest of the wheat” for us is Jesus Christ, who said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). Truly the word of God is “honey from the Rock” (16).