Today in my devotions I came across Psalm 81:10, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” That is a beautiful and powerful verse. When I think of it, I get the picture of a nest of baby birds with their mouths wide open toward the sky waiting for their mother to feed them. They have their mouths so wide open that you can’t even see their face. They are hungry and they know that food is coming. So they are straining with every ounce of muscle they have to be ready to receive that food.
Today I had a conversation with a woman whose husband has been out of work for several months and they are not able to pay for this month’s rent. She has been trusting God and knowing that He has a plan, but she is tired. She is ready for this to be over. She is ready for God to come swooping in and give them what they need. She is waiting and wondering where God is in the midst of this.
And I don’t blame her. I understand how she feels. How do those two pictures go together? God says “open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” So what’s the deal? Is her mouth not wide open enough? Where is the filling?
Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever wondered where God is in the midst of what you are going through? Have you ever wondered what God is doing and when He is going to come along and provide what you are hungry for and in need of? Those are tough times, are they not? So how do we wait for feeding time? How do we hang on for God?
Let’s consider this verse from Psalm 81 a little closer. Notice that first we see a reminder of who God is. That God is faithful and more than capable of providing for our every need. We have seen God at work over and over again and we can know that He is able to care for our needs today just like He did for the Israelites so many years ago.
So the first place we need to start is with trust. We need to trust God. He knows our needs and actually knows even better than we do what is best for us. And He is fully capable of meeting those needs. He has proved Himself faithful time and again and we can trust in Him. But I believe the second part of that verse carries this concept to a whole new level. Opening wide our mouths is an action for us to take. It is us saying that we know that God is powerful, and faithful, and that He will provide, and us actively putting ourselves in the position for God to pour out whatever we need from Him.
Now along with that goes an understanding that we are vulnerable in that position. Think of the birds for a moment. They opened their mouths so wide that they couldn’t possibly see what was coming. They trusted their mother to not only feed them, but to give them what would be good for them. The mother bird could put anything into their mouths at that moment and they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Opening our mouths wide in expectation puts us in a position of vulnerability before the Lord. And I believe that vulnerability is key.
When we are in that position we are saying to God, fill me Lord, I trust in you to give me whatever you choose to give me. When we get to that position we are abandoning our plans and putting ourselves completely in His hands, trusting that whatever He gives us will be exactly what we need.
Many times we want God to feed us or help us, but only as long as His plan comes into line with what we want for ourselves. We want Him to feed us, but we want to choose the menu. But God wants us in this position we see in Psalm 81:10, with our mouths so far wide open that we are completely trusting Him to give us what we need.
I know some of you out there are hurting and hungry. I want to invite you to open wide your mouths to the Lord. Remember His faithfulness and power, and trust Him to give you exactly what you need. Open wide your mouth to the Lord and let Him fill it.