"I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it" (Ps. 81:10).
Two pictures come to mind when I read this verse. When I was 4 or 5 years old, my grandfather took me and my brother Stan to a grain elevator. An enormous dump truck brimming full of wheat, backed up, lifted its load, and for what seemed like four or five minutes, poured its contents over a grating inlay on the cement floor of the grain elevator. After the truck drove away, my brother and I walked over and looked down through that grating. To our great amazement, the entire truckload of grain had disappeared! The second picture that comes to mind is of the two robins that built their nest outside my office window this last summer. After a time, three hatchlings appeared bobbing and weaving in the nest. The mother and father birds spent the next couple of weeks wearying themselves to gather food for their little ones. The newborn chicks could do nothing for themselves. Even when the parents were away, the little hatchlings spent all their time in the nest with their mouths wide opened. As they grew in size, so did their obnoxious, unending demand for food. Even while the mother and father were gathering food from far, they propped open their mouths wide, waiting for groceries to appear in their parent's beak. When those groceries were delivered, they swallowed them down as the yawning grain elevator swallowed that entire truckload of grain! Little birds can’t gather for themselves. Those I have seen get out of the nest before they can fly usually die. This is the picture God paints in Psalm 81:10.
Our need is greater than the cavernous grain elevator. Yet we have no spiritual understanding or strength. We are unable to gather spiritual food. We cannot nourish ourselves. Unless God makes Himself known to us, we will perish as a wild hatchling without a mother and father. But God directs us to Christ! Don’t think about your wisdom. Don’t measure your strength. Don’t consider your faithfulness. Don’t stockpile your obedience. Don’t rely on your faith. Don’t inventory your love. Bring your diseased nothingness to Christ and find your everything in Him (Jer. 9:23-24; 1 Cor. 1:30-31)! Open the mouth of your faith wide to Christ crucified and ask the Spirit of God to fill your soul with Him! “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). Our Lord says, “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it” (Ps. 81:10)! The endless capacity of the grain elevator has stuck with me since childhood. Though my soul’s need seems vast beyond measure, the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ. My soul finds satisfaction as long as He alone is the object of my faith! “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Eph. 3:20-21).
Two pictures come to mind when I read this verse. When I was 4 or 5 years old, my grandfather took me and my brother Stan to a grain elevator. An enormous dump truck brimming full of wheat, backed up, lifted its load, and for what seemed like four or five minutes, poured its contents over a grating inlay on the cement floor of the grain elevator. After the truck drove away, my brother and I walked over and looked down through that grating. To our great amazement, the entire truckload of grain had disappeared! The second picture that comes to mind is of the two robins that built their nest outside my office window this last summer. After a time, three hatchlings appeared bobbing and weaving in the nest. The mother and father birds spent the next couple of weeks wearying themselves to gather food for their little ones. The newborn chicks could do nothing for themselves. Even when the parents were away, the little hatchlings spent all their time in the nest with their mouths wide opened. As they grew in size, so did their obnoxious, unending demand for food. Even while the mother and father were gathering food from far, they propped open their mouths wide, waiting for groceries to appear in their parent's beak. When those groceries were delivered, they swallowed them down as the yawning grain elevator swallowed that entire truckload of grain! Little birds can’t gather for themselves. Those I have seen get out of the nest before they can fly usually die. This is the picture God paints in Psalm 81:10.
Our need is greater than the cavernous grain elevator. Yet we have no spiritual understanding or strength. We are unable to gather spiritual food. We cannot nourish ourselves. Unless God makes Himself known to us, we will perish as a wild hatchling without a mother and father. But God directs us to Christ! Don’t think about your wisdom. Don’t measure your strength. Don’t consider your faithfulness. Don’t stockpile your obedience. Don’t rely on your faith. Don’t inventory your love. Bring your diseased nothingness to Christ and find your everything in Him (Jer. 9:23-24; 1 Cor. 1:30-31)! Open the mouth of your faith wide to Christ crucified and ask the Spirit of God to fill your soul with Him! “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). Our Lord says, “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it” (Ps. 81:10)! The endless capacity of the grain elevator has stuck with me since childhood. Though my soul’s need seems vast beyond measure, the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ. My soul finds satisfaction as long as He alone is the object of my faith! “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Eph. 3:20-21).
Rick Warta
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