Day 484: He Nourishes With His Word

​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.”
 
 
Meditation
God wants to nourish us with His word. We cannot live by physical food alone! The spiritual milk of God’s manna is sweeter than honey and available to all who have tasted God’s grace and know He is good. Come feast on God’s word.
 
Today’s Psalm is a song sung at the Feast of Tabernacles, a festival that commemorates Israel’s wilderness years, and including a public reading of scripture (Deuteronomy 31:10-13).  The festival includes reflection on the past, celebration in the present, and formation for the future.
 
Lamenting the people in the wilderness who “did not listen to (God’s) voice” compels those reading and singing to do more than listen. We are commanded to “open wide (our) mouth” for God to fill it (10). God will feed us with the finest of food, satisfying us with honey from the Rock (16).
 
God wants to fill your mouth, heart, and life with the nourishment of His word. God’s command to eat His word is seen clearly in the lives of Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Isaiah (Ezekiel 3, Jeremiah 1:9; Isaiah 51:16). We are not designed to live on bread alone but on every word coming from the mouth of God (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4).
 
God longs for you to listen, “Oh that my people would listen to me, that (My People) would walk in my ways!” (13). God desires to rescue, renew, and restore with His word. God wants to satisfy your soul with the richness of His revelation. Open wide to feast on His means of grace!
 
Richly Dwelling
-I have a snacking problem and eat a bunch of things between meals. What do you snack on that diminishes your appetite for God’s word? Entertainment? Social media? Over-scheduling social engagements? Acquiring the latest and best must have ________?
 
-How can you grow in a steady diet of Divine revelation, feasting on God’s means of grace in regular Scripture study?
 
-Does God’s articulated desire to feed you His word make a difference in your desire to open up and eat His word? It should!
 
Key Verse
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.