Open Wide

Momma birds and sometimes Papa birds do a great job feeding their babies.  They build a nest to protect the birds while they go out and look for food.  They then bring back the food and feed the babies.  The baby birds don’t have to do a thing.  They just have to let Momma know that they are hungry and she feeds them.  When she is done feeding them they are satisfied.  God is like our Momma bird.  Read Psalm 81: 8 -10.

⁸ Listen, My people, and I will admonish you. Israel, if you would only listen to Me! ⁹ There must not be a strange god among you; you must not bow down to a foreign god. ¹⁰ I am Yahweh your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

The key to being fed until we are full spiritually is to put God first in our lives.  We are to have no other gods ahead of Him.  He may not have brought us out of Egypt like the Israelites, but He did save us and gave us eternal life with Him.  There should be nothing else before Him.  Yet the majority of Christians are not living that way.  They put sports, fun activities, kids, spouses, parents, school, jobs, hobbies, vacations, etc all ahead of Him.  They schedule everything in their lives before they make time for Bible Study, Church, or Service.  Once they have accomplished those things , then they see if they can make it to Sunday Services once that month.  Or maybe they volunteer for a job at church that conveniently fits their schedule and is easy to do.  Many are making gods out of the things in their life.  Many are being left unfed.  Spiritually empty.  That is why we see division in churches, broken homes and marriages inside the church, etc.  We are empty.  We have chosen other gods.  Let’s follow God’s instructions in these verses to stay inside His protecting nest and look to no other but our Momma bird to feed us.  Open wide and let Him fill you!

If Only

Do you ever get the “If Onlies”?  That’s when you basically regret whatever decision you made, because you now are experiencing the consequences of it.  Such as, “If only I had focused on my college education while I was in College, then maybe I would know what to do in this job situation.”  “If only I had not driven so fast, then I wouldn’t have gotten that ticket.”  “If only I had listen to my parents, then I wouldn’t have stayed with that boy and ended up in this predictment.”  We all get the “If Onlies” once and awhile.  Hopefully, we can learn from them and not make the same mistake twice or even be able to offer advice to others.  God gets the “If Onlies” about us.  Read Psalm 81: 13-14.

13 If only My people would listen to Me and Israel would follow My ways, 14 I would quickly subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes.”

God gives us so much that it should be easy to obey Him.  Yet it is like we are never satisfied or we still don’t trust Him.  We are just as stubborn as the Israelites.  They saw so many miraculous and wonderful things done by God and yet they instantly would not obey Him and wonder off His chosen path for them.  They ended up so many times during their history fighting enemies, starving and having their homes taken from them.  God thinks to Himself, “If only My people would have listen to Me and Israel (or put your name here) would follow My ways.”  Look what blessings He would have given the Israelites (or put your name here) if they/we would have only followed Him whole heartedly. If we had not followed our selfish desires, our enemies would have been subdued.  If only we had obeyed, life might have been better.  Wisdom would be not to have the “If Onlies” or to cause God to have the “If Onlies”, but instead to follow His ways and obey.