Rex H. Henderson

PSALM 81

Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not. I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots. Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah. Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me; There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god. I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels. Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee. (Psalm 81, KJV)

Psalm 81

“O My People…”

A great church service was in session,
The congregation, the Levites as singers,
And musicians, and the priests who blew
The trumpets; nothing could be finer.

They were having a joyful worship.
Everyone was there; everything was right,
Until God, who had been neglected and
Offended, knocked at the door of their plight.

Startled! They ask, “O God is there anything
Wrong?” He warned them to repent
Of their sins, false love and the worship of
Foreign gods, negating the Commandments.

This is all too characteristic of religious
People. They honor God with lips
And mouth, but their hearts are far from
Him with almost total eclipse.

Services are often loud, joyful and boosted
By musical instruments with no serious
Mention of God. Songs are man centered;
On who we are rather than who He is.

Our society needs a deep spiritual quest.
We need answers from the personal God
Of Biblical revelation, the source of all
Truth, or draw water from stagnant façade.

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