Open Up!

"Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!

O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

There shall be no strange god among you;

you shall not bow down to a foreign god.

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."

Psalm 81:8-10 ESV

We as a people can be frustrating.  We, like the Israelites, claim to follow God, but then we wander off, pinning our hopes on something other than the One who brings true fulfillment and meaning.

When I go off like this, God misses me, longing for a close bond with me.  He chastises me, disciplining me as a way to draw me back to Him, saying, "I have so much I want to give you, why will you not receive?  Why do you stubbornly resist my advances?"  He never stops pursuing me, reminding me of all I could have from Him, all the acts of His mighty hand that I have experienced.  He does not give up on me; He passionately desires my whole heart!

If I would open my mouth, He would fill it with such goodness; blessing beyond compare!

Love.  When I hear the word, "love," I get a picture of human love in my mind.  I think of a parent's love for a child which sometimes pushes her beyond her own capabilities in an effort to help her succeed.  Or the love of a man for a woman which smothers her, not allowing her to become the woman she was created to be.  Or the love of a woman for a man which is dependent upon him for her feelings of worth and well-being.  Or the love between two humans which is strong at one moment then fades in another.  This inferior love is far below what God has in mind when He speaks of love.

The kind of love I can expect from God is powerful.  It is grand; its scope being beyond my ability to fathom (Ephesians 3:18-19). This love is part of His character, not just an action He shows or a deed He does.  Love is who He is (1 John 4:8).  Therefore, this love does not change, waxing and waning according to my performance or attitude at the time:  God's love is constant.  It also is not dependent upon me at all, but absolute and unrestricted.  Therefore, this love cannot be lost (Romans 8:38-39).  This is the kind of love that cannot be constrained or limited.  In it's character, it is meant to flow freely to me and then out to others.  It is a sign that I belong to Him (1 John 4:7). 

This is the kind of love my heart desires, and this is the kind of love God is waiting with which to fill me.

Grace.  I want good things in life, but deep down, I feel like I don't deserve them.  I mess up despite how hard I try to do right.  I fail time and time again regardless of how much effort I put into following God's ways.  It seems like for every step forward I take, I end up going backwards three.  Life can be like running in loose sand; lots of effort with little progress made.

What I need to grasp is God's gracious character.  His grace gives me what I don't deserve.  His grace is all about lavish goodness flowing into my life apart from my ability to earn it.  It's God's favor upon me despite my failure to earn it.  Grace offers forgiveness where there is no virtue, kindness when I deserve wrath, abundance even though my actions earned lack (Ephesians 2:8, Romans 3:24).

God is waiting to pour out His grace in my life until it is overflowing in abundance.

Hope.  Without Him, I have nothing to look forward to.  Apart from Him, there is no expectation that things will be okay.  On my own, I can't honestly say that life will get better, that it will turn out for the good in the end, that there is anything beyond what I experience in the here and now.  If I don't have Jesus, I have no hope (1 Peter 1:3-4).

Through Christ, I can have an expectation for something better to come.  This is not all there is, and I was made for more than just survival.  I was created to thrive in the abundance of His love, and this is why Jesus came; to offer such fullness of life (John 10:10).  If things are bad right now, hope spurs me on with the thought that He came to give me a rich and satisfying life, not a measly existence filled with struggle and lack of purpose. 

Since He is always at work I can maintain a positive attitude based on the expectation that He is at work on my behalf, even if I don't detect it.   Furthermore, I need not fear the end, because in reality it is only the beginning.  The best is yet to come (John 14:1-3).  I have a future (Jeremiah 29:11)!

In Christ I have the hope that spurs me on to greater things, if I would only open myself up to receiving it.

I admit that I am stubbornly resisting God's work in my life.  Even though He desires to lavish His love, grace and hope upon me, I often fail to receive.  It is my desire that I let go of everything that holds me back, and simply open my mouth to accept His goodness.  When I do, I will find that He will fill me until it overflows in abundance.  Let me open up to Him!

As I begin this day it is my prayer that I will stop resisting God's work in my life and simply let Him give what He wants to give me.

How am I clamming up in the face of such a generous God?

When do I stick to my measly existence, refusing to even consider the abundance God is offering?