Ready to Receive

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.”—Psalm 81:10

It was God who led Israel out of bondage in Egypt and it is Jesus who leads us out from our slavery to sin. But like Israel, we are prone to want to go back to Egypt—back to our old sinful ways. It seems so easy to go back, but that is because we remember the pleasurable and fail to remember the bad. When we stop and think, when we remember the pain of our sin, our old way of life doesn’t seem so attractive anymore.

After being freed from Egypt, God reminded the people to put away any foreign god from among them (Psalm 81:9). He wanted them to be done with their old way of life and to continue to trust in Him. They needed a reminder that it was God who brought them out of slavery. It was God who had nourished them in the wilderness with water from a dry rock along with manna and quail. He was the one who caused their shoes not to wear out. He was the one who had led them and nourished them during their wilderness wandering. He wanted to remind them that they had everything they needed for their journey—and if they were to continue to trust in Him, He would bless and satisfy them. Which is why He said, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.”

God wants us to know that He is the one who saved us from our sin. But even then, we know in our hearts that we are prone to wander. As the songwriter of “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” put it,

“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it, 
seal it for thy courts above.”

We are prone to wander from Jesus. So how can we stay close to Him? By remembering His promises. God is telling us, through His Word, that He desires to bless and satisfy us, if we will only open ourselves up to what He has for us. If we do that, then He will fill us. He will direct and guide us, and He will satisfy us in a greater way than anything that sin has to offer.

My beloved brother or sister, are you wanting to return to your old life in Egypt? Are you finding that following Christ is becoming harder and harder? If so, focus on His promises. God desires to bless you, not harm you, and He will bless you if you are open to it. He desires to give you Himself—and He is the only true satisfaction that is proven to keep us from sin. Amen.