What Might Have Been (Ps. 81)
The Psalm that we are going to look at today is Psalm 81, a psalm written by Asaph. Now, before we jump into it, I want to share with you the occasion surrounding this Psalm. Asaph was one of David’s worship leaders. In this psalm is pictures him calling the nations together to worship during one of their three sacred feasts. It is thought that the feast celebrated that day was the feast of tabernacles. So, Asaph calls them together to celebrate this feast, and as verse five indicates, sometime during their celebration God gives them a message. A message that needed to be heard then, and needs to be heard today. So, if you have your Bibles with you today, please turn with me to Psalm 81.
Read Psalm 81
John Greenleaf Whittier wrote, “Of all the sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been.’” Verses eight through sixteen consists of a very sad message when we understand Israel’s history, for it reveals what might have been for the nation. When we read of their history we hear of them consistently in trouble and captivity. This was a nation, you could say, that was full of regrets. But it didn’t have to be this way. Things could have been so much better for them as this psalm points out. God had so much in store for them. He had a better life planned for them instead of what they experienced. Yet they opted out and took the path of regret...the path which pains the heart when we think “what might have been”. And for that reason the message we hear in verses eight through to sixteen is sad.
Yet, at the same time it is also encouraging, for it teaches us that we don’t have to take this path. You see, the nation of Israel could have experienced the life that God wanted to give them, a life free of regrets. They didn’t have to experience what they did and lose what God intended for them. And saints, we don’t either. We don’t need to take the path of regrets...the path that pains our hearts when we think “what may have been. What may have been if I did it God’s way”. We can enjoy what God has intended for us...we don’t have to miss out on it. And saint’s what God has intended for us doesn’t come with regrets. So, I guess the question this morning is, how? How can I enjoy what God has intended for me? Well, you can enjoy what God has intended for you by committing yourselves to the following three disciplines and the first is this...the discipline of listening to God.
1. Listen to God (v. 13)
God utters in the opening of verse thirteen, before He declares what might have been, “oh, that My people would listen to Me”. You can feel the tenderness of God’s heart here. You see God knew if His people would just listen to Him things would be different, things would be better. God doesn’t like seeing His people suffer, He doesn’t like them experiencing regret as they look back and think, “what might have been? What might have been if I had only listened to God?” God’s heart breaks for His people...and He urges the nation...and He urges us...“Oh, that My people would just listen to me”.
But the sad thing is, people fail to listen to Him all the time. Speaking to the nation of Israel God said, “But My people did not listen to my voice”. The nation of Israel was characterized by spiritual deafness. Their ears were closed to God’s voice. And friends, things haven’t changed. Our generation today is marked by spiritual deafness as well. Now it’s understandable that the unbelievers in our generation have their fingers in their ears. They hate Christ and they don’t want anything to do with Him. They don’t want to hear what He has to say because frankly they don’t care. But many people who profess to be believers in the church are doing the same thing. Many churchgoers don’t want to hear the full counsel of God’s Word anymore. Paul warned us of this time when he said, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting their ears tickled they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths”. He is saying, “There is coming a time when those who profess to be Christians will stop listening to Christ and instead listen to things they want to hear...things from deceitful spirits”. And that time is now. Today, people don’t want to hear God’s Word, they don’t want to hear about sacrificing and paying the cost, they don’t want to hear about giving of themselves but of getting, not of serving but of being served. They want to hear that which glorifies self, which promotes self. That’s why people are flocking to those who preach the Prosperity gospel...a gospel which caters to the getting of stuff and the promoting of self.
Oh, but God is urging His people today saying, “oh that My people would listen to Me”. Why is it that we have a hard time listening to God? It’s funny, we know that God is omniscient, correct? We know that He knows where He is leading us, correct? We also know that compared to God we really don’t know anything. Yet, we turn around and we say to him, not in words, but in actions, “I know best. I’m not going to listen to you. I don’t think you know what you are doing. I don’t think you know what is best. I ‘m going to bank on my own thinking and do this instead.” Really? How dumb do we have to be?
When we fail to listen to God that is when we lose out. Just look at the nation of Israel in Exodus. God had told them that He would be giving them the promise land. And as the ten unfaithful spies were telling of how taking the Promised Land would be impossible, God once again told them, this time through His servants Caleb and Joshua, that the land was theirs. But they refused to listen to God, and because they failed to listen to God they forfeited the life that God had instore for them. Instead of experiencing and enjoying what God had for them, they lost it and they were left to walk around the wilderness until they died.
I wonder saints, as they walked around, do you think they had regrets? I imagine they did. They probably thought, “what might have been if I just listened? What might I be doing right now in the Promised Land? If I just listened to God, what would my life be like now?” Friends, when we fail to listen to God, we miss out on what He has instore for us, and like the Israelites we are filled with regrets thinking “what might have been?”
I don’t want that in any of your lives. I want you to enjoy what God has intended for you. And God wants you to enjoy it to, that’s why he urges us to listen to Him. To listen to Him as we read His Word. To listen to Him as we pray. To listen to His truth as the pastor preaches. And he wants us to listen attentively. He wants our complete attention on listening to His Word. But more than that, He wants us to listen to Him retentively. He wants us to remember what He has said to us in His Word. He wants us to store it away in our hearts so that we can always reflect upon it. Yes, He wants us to listen to Him attentively and retentively.
Now saints, sometimes God’s Word isn’t comforting to hear. In fact, this message for the nation of Israel in our text wasn’t fully comforting for them either. In the opening of verse eight, we hear God say to the nation, “Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you”. To admonish is to mildly rebuke someone. It is to correct them. And I don’t know about you, but the average person doesn’t like to be corrected. Correction is usually hard to take. But though it is hard to take, we must still listen attentively to it. God corrects us so that He may bring us back to Him, He corrects us so that we can get off the path of regret and get onto the path He intends for us to walk...the path which leads to Him.
You know, the nation of Israel didn’t like to take correction. All of the prophets speak of this truth. The message that the prophets spoke was one of correction usually. And the response for the most part was not favourable on the part of the nation. The message went unheeded. And the result? They found themselves in captivity. They found themselves in a place of regret because they failed to listen to God’s message of correction. Saint’s, let me encourage you this morning to listen to God. Listen to His complete word...that which is favourable to you and that which isn’t...listen to His promises and listen to his message of correction. And when you do so, listen attentivelymw with your ears wide open...for that is when we begin to enjoy the life God has intended for us.
2. Yield to Him (v. 13)
So the first discipline we must commit ourselves to is to listening to God, and here is the second discipline we must commit ourselves to if we want to enjoy the life God intended for us...and that is the discipline of yielding to Him.
Let’s go back to the thirteenth verse. There in that verse, God hinges what He would do and would have done for the nation on their obedience to walk in His ways. There He declares, “Oh that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in my ways! I would quickly subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their adversaries.” And then in verse sixteen He also promises that He would feed them with the finest of wheat and with honey from a rock He would satisfy them. God’s protection and provision in this psalm is hinged upon them yielding to God. If the nation would yield to God and walk in His ways, He would protect them and provide for them. But the sad thing is, as the bottom of verse eleven reveals, Israel would not do it.
The nation of Israel was a stiff-necked people. God, in Exodus 32:9, told Moses, “I have seen this people and behold they are an obstinate people (or a stiff-necked people)”. The image in that verse is of a horse that refuses to be controlled by the reigns. It is a person who is determined to go their own way no matter what. And you know what happens to such people? Well first, they miss out on the life God wants to give them. God told the nation in Isaiah 48:18, “If only you have paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” If only they had listened and paid attention, but they didn’t. Why? Because they were determined to go their own way. They would not yield to God. And the result was that they missed out on God’s provision for them. They missed out on the life God wanted to give them.
But it gets worse. You see, for those who are determined to go their own way...God let’s them go their own way. We see that truth for ourselves in verses eleven and twelve. There we read, “But My people did not listen to My voice and Israel did not obey [or yield to] Me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, to walk in their own devices”.
One writer, reflecting upon this verse, wrote “The greatest judgement God can send is to let people have their own way”. God’s way is perfect, it is free of any regrets. If we yield ourselves and walk with Him we enjoy a satisfied life. But our way...our way is full of troubles and regrets.
Just think about what happens when we take control of the reigns and lead our own life. We do dumb things that we regret. For example, when David failed to yield to God’s will, and determined to do things His way, he foolishly chose to lay with Bathsheba and the consequence was that he had a lot of family problems. You know, I wonder how many family problems are caused by us failing to yield to God’s word. God has instructed us that we teach our children God’s truth. However, some parents who claim to be Christians, don’t. They don’t have devotions, they don’t talk about God at home, oh no, they let the church do that (that is if they even go to church). And then they wonder why their kids aren’t in church when they move out. Could it be because you showed your kids that God really isn’t important? God has instructed us to discipline our children. I’m glad my Dad took this one to heart. Parents fail to do it all the time. They don’t think they need to discipline their child. Nope, you see that’s not the cool thing to do. Just talk to Billy that’s all. And then they wonder why their kids are brats. Friends, when we fail to yield to God’s will in the raising of a family we encounter problems...and we miss out on what God intends for our family. And that’s just His will on raising families....it’s the same across the board. Failing to yield to God brings about regrets, and we miss out on what He intends for our life to be.
Saint’s, we have two options. We can either be stiff-necked and determine to do our own thing resulting in a life full of regrets, or we can yield to God and obey Him resulting in enjoying the life he intended for us. The choice is ours. But I’ll tell you, the choice really isn’t hard to make.
So, do you want to live the life that God intends for you to live, do you want to not miss out on His blessings, then commit yourselves to listening to God. Listen to him attentively with your ears wide open, and retentively storing His word in your heart. Second, commit yourselves to yielding to God. Don’t be a stiff-necked person determining to do your own thing because the outcome is not going to be good, but rather yield to Him obeying and walking in his ways. And finally, commit yourselves to the discipline of worshipping God.
3. Worshipping God (vv. 8,9)
God utters these words in verses eight and nine, “Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you; O Israel, if you would listen to Me! Let there be no strange god among you; Nor shall you worship any foreign god.”
Now the words we have just read in verse eight and nine are startling, especially if we remember the history behind this psalm. Remember, it was occasioned during one of the national feasts. As the worship leader was leading the nation in worship a prophet stands up with a message from God and starts giving it. And what is the message...well in a nutshell it would be this...”Stop worshipping Idols, start worshipping Me, listening to Me and obeying or yielding to Me”. Now I find that a little strange. How about you? On the one hand you have what appears to be people gathered together in worship worshipping God...on the other hand you have God saying “stop worshipping idols”. How is this possible? Well, looking at the nation’s history, it is safe to assume that though it appears that they were worshipping God...what they were infact doing was paying lip service, as they were serving other gods. You could say, they had God which they worshipped during church, and then they had their “idols” which they worshipped throughout the week. And guess what, nothing has changed. So called Christians in the church are doing the same very thing today. They show up on Sunday to do their “church duty”, but throughout the rest of the week, they are serving their own idols that they have fashioned.
And the biggest idol people serve is themselves. They serve themselves from Monday to Friday. For them the whole world revolves around them and the pursuit of acquiring stuff, or pleasing self. And then on Sunday they go to church a do their duty. Friends, this is what the nation of Israel did. When you read the book of Haggai you read of a people who put themselves first over God. They made sure their houses were nicely decorated, and meanwhile the house of God lay desolate. Oh, they met at church every Sabbath...a rundown church sadly...and did their duty...and then they ran back home and worshiped themselves. Friends, such a heart is a disloyal heart. Such a heart does not yield to God, because its yielding to self. Such a heart does not listen to God, because it is listening to self. And such a heart leads us on the path of regret and away from the life God intended for us. Just ask the nation of Israel, who because of their sin of idolatry, left God, forfeited the life that God had for them and went into exile.
Saint’s, God wants us to worship Him! So, how do we do that? Well, first truth must be heard. That means we are going to have to listen to God. You see, worship is in fact a response to divine truth. When we hear God’s truth, of who He is and what He has done, and respond to that truth in thanksgiving and service (that’s true worship). Without divine truth being spoken, preached, heard, we can’t truly worship. That’s why it’s important to be reading your bible, that’s why it’s important to be in prayer listening to God, and that’s why it’s important to go to church! Worship is a response to divine truth!
No wonder why then God starts His message off with the truth of who He is and what He has done for the nation of Israel. In verses six and seven God says, “I relieved his shoulder of the burden, His hands were freed from the basket. You called in trouble and I rescued you; I answered you in the hiding place of thunder (referring to when God thundered down His law from heaven at Mount Sinai); I proved you at the waters of Meribah”.
God reminds them of how He rescued them from slavery in Egypt, how He showed His power and sovereignty over them at Mount Sinai as He thundered down His law from heaven, and He reminds them of how He faithfully provided for them (even at the waters of Meribah where they complained against God).
Let me ask you a question. If you were there that day and heard this message of what God had done for you and the nation, what would you be doing? Well, if I was there I know what I would be doing...and it probably is the same thing you would be doing...and that is saying thank you to God! I’d be saying, “Thank you God for rescuing me from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. If it wasn’t for you I would still be making bricks, carrying a heavy burden, and serving a cruel slave master”. And that thanks would not only be manifested in my praises but also in my service to Him. How about you?
Well, the same happens when we hear the truth of what God has done for us today. He has rescued us from the bondage of sin and death. He has relieved us from the burden of guilt we once carried. And He has saved us from the cruel slave master called sin. Now, shouldn’t that fill our hearts with gladness? And shouldn’t that make us respond in praise and service (in true worship)? Yes it should if it truly means anything to us. And saints, if that’s how our heart is, we will find ourselves living for Him and obeying Him and listening to Him, and the result, well we will enjoy the life God has intended for us.
So, saint’s do you want to enjoy the life that God for you? Then commit yourselves to listening to God, to yielding to God, and to worshiping God! Let’s, pray.
