Title: God’s View of the Human Life
Scripture Reading: Psalm 81:8-16
Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;
9 There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.
10 I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.
12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.
13 Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!
14 I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.
15 The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever.
16 He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.
Man naturally puts himself as the center of all things. But the bible teaches that God is the Center as well as the Source of all life.
So what can we learn from God’s view of human life?
- No Foreign gods
Psalm 81:9 ‘There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.’
The word ‘strange god’ is translated as ‘foreign god’ is some bible versions.The world has changed so much that we can say that we have new god. So the term ‘strange god’ can refer to ‘the foreign god’ and the ‘new god’.
Deuteronomy 32:17 says, ‘They sacrificed to demons which were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come in of late whom your fathers had never dreaded.’
The new god are the modern god, the god of progress which currently dominate modern society. The new gods are the new sins. Today young people follows not the old traditions of parents but influencers and they believed everything advised by the influencers. The new gods are the all-freeing sexuality.
God requires exclusive loyalty from the people. They are never to bow down to an alien god. Identifying Himself as the LORD your God, lovingly urged his people to completely looked to him.
Instead of worshipping the LORD and him only, Christians seem to be worshipping the gods of the secular culture – gods of wealth, pleasure, fame, status, and self-absorption
Wisemen said, ‘Over the last 30 years of working in education, various parish ministries, and my own family experiences, it seems that as a culture, we have an unquenchable thirst for more – more pleasure, comfort, success and more stuff. We are so often looking for the next greatest vacation, the perfect career, the house with everything, or the latest technology and hoping this will make us happy. It’s a heartbreaking struggle for more. Our wants become the focus of our daily life and the center of our worship. In some ways, our worship is of self – me and my wants.’
Throughout one’s Christian life, every believer must be brought back again and again, to the place of repentance. Brokenness over sin and turning away from sin, are to be an ongoing lifestyle, not an occasional event. No matter how long a person has walked with the Lord, a habitual practice of sin-confessing, sin-forsaking repentance must be an ongoing reality. No Christian grow spiritually beyond his need to acknowledge and abandon sin with broken heart and godly sorrow. Not only does Christianity begin with repentance, it continues and progresses with the very same steps of repentance. Is it any wonder that God is always calling his people to repent? Is it any wonder the God reminds us not to worship any strange god, foreign god or new god.
- Opening our mouth wide
The second thing that God viewed the human life is that if they want anything extraordinary and powerful to happen in their lives; they have to open wide their mouth. The second part of verse 10 says, “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.’ God made a promise to His people if they would in faith anticipate God’s provision, God would provide. The reverse is also implied: God would not fill the closed mouth, the one with no anticipation of faith.
When do we open our mouth?
- When we have a sense of need
- When we are hungry
- When we ask for large things (things that are miraculous and not out of the ordinary)
- When we understand the greatness of the God we pray to.
- When we pray on Jesus’ merits, not our own.
Opening our mouth, refers to two aspects of the human needs: temporal as well as spiritual needs.
Temporal needs is earthly needs
God definitely refers to the spiritual needs when he mentions opening your mouth wide
- Stubborn heart
11 But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.
12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.
Psalm 81:11-12
The NASB
“But My people did not listen to My voice, and Israel did not obey Me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, to walk in their own devices.
The third thing that God viewed the human life is that of stubbornness. This is the tragedy of Christians. God was ready to fill the faith filled open mouths of His people, but they would not obey Him. God said in sorrow, ‘Israel would have none of me.’ So YHWH ‘gave them over to their own stubborn heart.’ This is the same God’s judgment on the Old Testament saints and the Christians of today. To give them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels.
What is Israel history of rebellion and our history of rebellion.
- Did not listen
- Did not obey
- Had stubborn hearts
- Walked in their own devise
Stubbornness is a combination of ‘neck’ and ‘stiff’ or ‘hard’. That’s where we get the term stiff-necked. The adjective is that the person or his behavior is haughty and stubborn. Some people have stiff-necked pride. In the bible, to be stiff-necked is to be obstinate and difficult to lead. Israel (and we included) is often described by this unflattering combination because of their unwillingness to obey God’s law.
- What God has prepared for them
- Subduing our enemies
The fourth thing that God viewed the human life is that he wants to subdue their enemies and bless them. Let’s talk about subduing their enemies.
Verse 14 says, ‘I should soon subdue their enemies’. Another translation says, ‘I would soon subdue their enemies.’ This is an unclaimed blessing God wanted to give to a believing and obeying people. If God’s people would only listen and obey, God would subdue their enemies and fight for them against their adversaries. Our enemies can find the sharpest weapons against us in the armory of our transgressions. But they could never overthrow us if we did not first overthrow ourselves. Sin strips a man of his armor, and leave him naked to his enemies.
- The giving of the Finest of wheat and Honey from the Rock
God would have richly provided for them and satisfied them – if His people would have only listened and obeyed. YHWH would have feed them with the finest of wheat. YHWH would have given them ‘honey rock the rock’.
‘Honey from the rock’ evidently means ‘honey of the best’ – native honey, stored by bees in clefts of the rocks. Here it implies it is the best food of the land.
God offers, not only nutrition, but also pleasure to those who hear and do his words. Sometimes we think of obeying God so much in terms of what we must give up that we fail to remember the rewards of obedience. Our God, who created honey and our ability to enjoy it wants us to live a full, rich life, a life of genuine pleasure. This comes as we seek the LORD and follow his ways.
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