Psalm 81

1 Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
2 Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.
3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.
4 For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.
5 This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.
6 I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.
7 Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
8 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.

Key Verse:
11 But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.

Key Observation:
This psalm is a contination of Psalm 80, and again, is a prayer for deliverance for Israel.

Memory Verse:
7 Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

Devotion:
This psalm is a plea again for Israel to follow their God, and await his deliverance. It is authored by Asaph, and was long before Israel was scattered, any of the times. I consider it to fit more under the heading of a prophetic psalm, and it is certainly prophetic of what Israel will soon be doing: “7Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee”. I sometimes think that Christians metaphorically stick God in their back pocket, using Him in emergencies. I do agree, and the record is replete with examples, that God uses emergencies to train us in godly behavior, but God is not to be taken out and put away at my convenience.

Tozer asks us to continually “examine ourselves” as Paul did himself, “to see whether or not we are in the faith. He says,"You cannot have a Christian world, but unfortunately, you can have a worldly Christian." Some of the more godly saints I have known took an annual spiritual inventory. During that time they worked at being both honest about themselves, and a bit brutal in their self judgment. I need to rigorously judge myself and see if I am fully surrendered to God. I know that I have areas to improve in. I must engage in self reflection; the alternative is that I wait for the Bema seat of Christ, when he shall weigh and judge my deeds. Not for salvation, but rather to measure my faithfulness. How about you? As the song asks: “What if it were today?”

Jesus is coming to earth again; what if it were today?
Coming in power and love to reign; what if it were today?
Coming to claim His chosen Bride, all the redeemed and purified,
Over this whole earth scattered wide; what if it were today?
Glory, glory! Joy to my heart ’twill bring.
Glory, glory! When we shall crown Him King.
Glory, glory! Haste to prepare the way;
Glory, glory! Jesus will come some day.
Satan’s dominion will then be o’er, O that it were today!
Sorrow and sighing shall be no more, O that it were today!
Then shall the dead in Christ arise, caught up to meet Him in the skies,
When shall these glories meet our eyes? What if it were today?
Faithful and true would He find us here if He should come today?
Watching in gladness and not in fear, if He should come today?
Signs of His coming multiply; morning light breaks in eastern sky.
Watch, for the time is drawing nigh; what if it were today?