Open Wide Your Mouth

I am the Lord your God,

who brought you up out of Egypt.

Open wide your mouth

and I will fill it.

Psalm 81:10

How the Lord longs to meet our needs. And how faithful he is! In Psalm 81 he reminds the children of Israel how he brought them out of Egypt, freeing them from slavery, and led them in the wilderness where he tested them (verses 6-7). And he promised to meet all their needs (and ours) if they would only receive his provision. 

"Open wide your mouth." the Lord instructs Israel, "and I will fill it." But Israel refused. She depended on foreign gods (9) and ignored her history of God's deliverance. So he "gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own devices" (12). They could have been fully satisfied and their enemies would have been subdued and punished (13-16), but Israel would not listen or submit to him (11).

An open mouth waiting to be filled is not an open basket waiting to be filled. A basket, with its sides and bottom, can only contain so much. But a mouth! It is an opening into the body which is continually processing what is put into it and, though it should not be over-filled, the filling is a renewable process. You put the food it, it goes through the body to provide nourishment, you add more food... 

That's how it is when God is the one filling our open mouths! As the baby bird is incapable of filling its own mouth, we are not able to meet our own needs. But oh, how the Father loves to meet our needs for us. All he asks is that we open ourselves to his provision.

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;

he rises to show you compassion.

For the Lord is a God of justice.

Blessed are all who wait for him.

Isaiah 30:18