Psalm 81- O Israel, if you would but listen to me

Psalm 81

Our Psalm today is Psalm 81. It begins with an exhortation to sing and shout for joy to God and play musical instruments as a part of a feast day.

What the ancient Israelites didn’t seem to forget in their writtings, but we often seem to, is that when we worship, we are doing this for God. We come to God with our voices and instruments and we aren’t singing for our own pleasure, but for God’s. So, when we think, “oh, I like this song” or “oh, I don’t like this song” we should really be asking is, “is this a song appropriate for worshiping God?”. And what is probably even more important is, “is my inner attitude at worship pleasing to God?”

The psalmist reminds the people that they have been commanded to joyfully celebrate the feast days. He says it is a “statute”, a “rule”, and a “decree” which was given to them when they were rescued from slavery in Egypt. In Hebrew poetry repetition is a way of giving emphasis. For our psalm to say, “statute”, “rule”, and “decree” is to place an exclamation point in the psalm drawing our attention to the command of God given to the people when they were rescued from slavery in Egypt.

Of course, the Exodus was the most powerful image for the identity of Israel. Their rescue from slavery and deliverance into the Promised Land was constantly present to them. It wasn’t just something that happened to their ancestors. It happened to them. Even now, when the Passover is celebrated in Jewish homes a child will ask “why is tonight different from other nights”, the elder will say, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord, our God, took us out from there with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm”. The idea is that their existence is bound up with the lives of their ancestors. They, in a way, were alive within their ancestors. If their ancestors were not rescued they might still be slaves. So, their present state is dependent on the rescue of their ancestors and so in a sense it happened to them.

For the ancient Christians, the Exodus was also a powerful image. They saw the escape from Egypt as an escape from lives enslaved to sin. The Promised Land was symbolic of the spiritual life with God. The Exodus was a symbol of all human lives. We are born into a world that is polluted by sin and evil. The grace of God has reached out to us to rescue us and bring us to spiritual freedom- to life with God. Baptism was seen symbolically as a passage through the Red Sea- from slavery to sin to freedom in Christ.

When the people of Israel had been released from physical slavery, they still had to be released from the slavery that grabbed hold of their hearts. While in the wilderness they grumbled against Moses and yearned for Egypt. They needed to be cleansed of the Egypt that lived within them, so they were given the commands of God to cleanse them and guide them into freedom.

Likewise, as Christians we are given the commands of Christ and the wisdom of the Scriptures, not to enslave us to a law, but to cleanse us of the sin that still lives in our heart, and to show us how to live in freedom with God. It’s not enough to be saved outwardly we have to be saved inwardly as well. We have to be taught to want the right things if we are to be truly free.

Think about someone addicted to heroin. If they are allowed to have what they want they will remain enslaved to heroin. The Israelites were addicted to Egypt. They were brought out of Egypt, but they had to be given the way to break the addiction. … Humanity is addicted to sin. It is not enough to be given heaven, we have to learn to want it.

Imagine someone who is full of pride, anger, and lust. What does heaven look like for someone like that? Would they even enjoy it? wouldn't their pride make the worship of God and he glory of the saints unbearable? … Do we expect that God will just remove all those character traits? If God did, who would they be? Would they even be them anymore?  … God can open the way to life with God, but we also have to learn to want it.

In the book “The Great Divorce” by C.S. Lewis he says, 

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it.” (C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, ch 9, p 75).

 It is a chilling quote. He is saying that in the end, we will all get what we want. Where will 'what we want' lead us? … Like the person addicted to heroin, will we be led into a self-destructive place. Or, we will learn to want the things that truly lead us to eternal life with God.

God speaks in our psalm, 

“Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! O Israel, if you would but listen to me!” (v8); “But my people did not listen to my voice” (v11); “So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. [What was their punishment? To get what they want!] Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways” (v12-13); “He would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you” (v16).

This is an uncomfortable teaching. … What if getting what we want is actually the worst thing for us? … The teachings of Jesus, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, they are leading us to become heavenly people. And that starts now, not just after we die. We are to become people who are so full of heaven, that heaven would be the only appropriate place for us.

That is what baptism is about. It is about turning away from all that would destroy us. And at the same time turning towards all that would save us. We place our trust in Jesus. We claim him as our Lord, and that means he has the ultimate say over our life and our decisions. Anything less is to deny him Lordship over our life. It is to deny him access to a part of us that needs to be healed. …

There is a part of us that resists. I notice it within myself. There is a part of us that doesn’t really trust God with our life. We will trust God with our death, but when it comes to our life we often have doubts. The Danish Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once said: 

“The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world?” (Kierkegaard’s journals).

I hear that quote very personally. Why do I sometimes doubt God with my life? Why do I think that to give all of me over to Jesus would ruin me? Why do I hold that tiny piece back? … It’s that original lie told in the garden- “you can’t trust Him you know. He’s trying to keep you from something good”.

All the while God is yearning for me like a parent reaching out for their addicted child- “Don’t choose the drugs. Choose me. What I want for you is so much better than what you want for yourself.” … God is constantly acting on our behalf to save us from what we want that would destroy us. The Cross breaks the power of Sin, and the Holy Spirit lives within us granting us the power to choose rightly. He gave us the sacraments to empower us. We are still called to walk in the ways of God and call on God to work inside us- to do His divine surgery. 

Lord, grant us ears to hear, and help us to will what you will. AMEN.