Psalm 81--Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me

Psalm 81
English Standard Version

Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me
To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.
81 Sing aloud to God our strength;
    shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
2 Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
    the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
    at the full moon, on our feast day.

4 For it is a statute for Israel,
    a rule of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph
    when he went out over the land of Egypt.
I hear a language I had not known:
6 “I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
    your hands were freed from the basket.
7 In distress you called, and I delivered you;
    I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
    I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
    O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you;
    you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10 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.

11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
    Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
    to follow their own counsels.
13 Oh, that my people would listen to me,
    that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 I would soon subdue their enemies
    and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him,
    and their fate would last forever.
16 But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
    and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

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Asaph starts this psalm with a call to worship--to remember the LORD's blessings and to always give thanks for them.  The people were to have a special time of thanksgiving at the beginning of every month (the New Moon Festival) to offer special sacrifices and give thanks to the LORD.  They should also give thanks to the LORD for how He saved them from slavery in Egypt and removed the heavy burden that was upon them there.  He is there Savior, Redeemer, and Deliverer.  No other god was able to save, deliver or redeem.  Therefore, no other god is worthy of our worship.

Even with all He did for them to demonstrate His love and power, His people rebelled against Him.  They tested Him, and they hardened their hearts so that an entire generation (save Joshua and Caleb) died in the wilderness.  God wanted to defeat all their enemies for them and let them have the Promised Land right away, but they chose to believe that God would not fulfil His promises and they said they wanted to go back to Egypt--back to slavery--the picture of this is people that are apostate and want to go back to their lives of sin after they say they have had a "salvation experience."  Who has been genuinely saved and is one of the LORD's sheep that wants to return to the pig stye, mud, muck, and slop?  No one!  The Bible is clear on this.  Those who "turn away" from the LORD never really turned towards Him.  "They have gone out from among us because they were never of us."  Asaph is warning the people to be careful in thinking they possess something they do not have.  A spiritual experience is not the same as a relationship with God.  If we are truly His people, called by His name, the sheep of His pasture, then we will experience all the blessings of the covenant one day.  For now, we can be sure that the Good Shepherd will take care of us.  We need only trust and follow Him and listen to (obey) the sound of His voice, and not listen to the voice of any stranger (false gods, the world, etc.).