Being Filled By God

 We often hear of people who have received a message from God or as many claim, “God spoke to me.” Now I’m not saying that can’t happen, because I believe it can, however we should remember that God will never speak counter to His written word. So if what “God” has spoken to you is contrary to what He has already spoken through the scriptures, then it’s not from God and is most likely from Satan. In Psalm 81 we see the Lord give Asaph a special message. Asaph was a Levite and a worship leader at the Tabernacle during the reign of King David. As the psalmist for Psalm 81, Asaph was calling the people back to worship. They had strayed and were no good to the Lord. In fact, the Lord had allowed them to go their own way, the greatest of all judgments, and since God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, we also will suffer  and feel the pain of choosing our own way.

I love the simplicity of obeying God, God told His people to hear His word and then He told them to obey His word. However, our ability to obey is conditioned upon our ability to hear. What happens when we can’t hear God? Well, that usually means we are hearing something else. The Holy Spirit which dwells inside of every disciple of Christ is described as whispering to the conscious of His disciples. The image is an intimacy where the Father and His child almost know what the other is thinking because they know each other so well. As a husband and a father, I am keenly aware of what my wife and children are thinking and have even learned to read their mood through their body language. It’s simply what occurs when people dwell in intimacy with one another. I can often finish what my wife is saying and the same is true of many husbands and wives. So when God tells His people  to “…Open your mouth wide and I will fill it” (Psalm 81:10), He is saying I know exactly what you need. God said in Hosea 4:6 that “My people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge.”

Ultimately God wants to impart wisdom and knowledge to His followers and His written word is proof of that. The word “ fill” means to accomplish, confirm, and to consecrate. So if we will simply “open our mouths,” translation, if we will open our hearts to God’s Word and drink it in constantly and daily, then we will find it is more than sufficient to satisfy. Once we taste it, we will hunger for more and it will “fill” us and consecrate us.

Our mouths were designed for praise and the Lord wants to fill the storerooms of our hearts to enable us to do just that.