by Rev. J. A. Macdonald
“I am the Lord thy God; which brought thee out of the land of Egypt; open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.” Psalm 81: 10.
The book of Psalms gives a comprehensive account of the Lord Jesus Christ’s transcendent beauty and excellency. The church of old sang of it thus: “Thou art fairer than the children of men.” Psalm 42: 2. In Psalm 22 the church spoke of Him as the one who suffered as none else did. We hear His prayer: “Be not far from me; for trouble is near; . . . I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.” Verses 11 and 14. As in the previous Psalm David views Him by faith as One who dwelleth between the cherubims; and from whose presence a little sparrow cannot fall to the ground, without His permission.
From the words of our text, we can see three things arising:
- What God reminds his people of: “I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out the land of Egypt”;
- What He requested of them: “Open thy mouth wide”;
- His promise: “I will fill it”.
If Pharoah could have prevented it none of the Israelites would have ever escaped out of Egypt, but would have died beside the fleshpots of Egypt; as will happen to all those who die in a state of nature. From all eternity, however, God purposed their escape; and escape they did, although it meant that God had to perform a miracle, as took place at the Red Sea. Wicked Pharoah was most reluctant to let them go; but God purposed that not a hoof should be left behind in Egypt, and neither there was. He alone could do it. David compared his own escape to that of a bird out of the fowler’s snare. Ps. 124: 7. The Saviour, himself, for the comfort of his dear ones, said: “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall also hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd.” John 10: 16.
The Apostle Paul never forgot the day when the Lord removed the scales from off his eyes, thus showing him how he had destroyed himself. Down to the end of time the church shall be singing of His loving kindness in bringing her out of a fearful pit and out of the miry clay. David, too, remembered who delivered him from the paw of the lion and the bear, and from King Saul too, though like many of the Lord’s people, in the past as well as in the present, he feared lest he should fall into the enemy’s cruel hands, yet none of them ever did, and never shall. The Church could sing: “His left hand is under my head and His right hand doth embrace me.”
“Thou, with thy counsel, while I live,
wilt me conduct and guide;
And to thy glory afterward
receive me to abide.” Psalm 73: 24.
The people of God shall assuredly be assailed with many tribulations while going through the valley of Baca, but out of them all, and Lord shall deliver them. Some are taken suddenly without much warning; while others are left on beds of languishing for years, before being taken to their home above. The children of Israel were also to remember how the Lord provided Manna in the wilderness, and pure fresh water out of the flinty rock, which followed them right throughout the wilderness. Remember how the Prophet Isaiah exhorted those with him in the wilderness for their eternal good: “Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.” Isaiah 51: 1. There was a time in Jerusalem when God’s blessed Word was lost. How like our own nation, which at the moment is going back with a perpetual backsliding towards the harlot of Rome with all her God-dishonouring doctrines, e.g. her Mass, which is a form of canabalism, the Rosary, crossing one’s self, bowing to idols, confessing sin to a priest, etc. Blessed be the Lord that we were delivered from the bondage of that Egypt. May the Lord protect us from going back to this state.
Blessed be the Lord, His word was found again; and great was the joy and gladness of heart of His people, as they said: “Thy word was found and we did eat it and it was to us the joy and rejoicing of our heart.” We have the Word of God and are the only Church in Scotland whose Supreme Court has unequivocally debarred every version in English of God’s Word from our pulpits at home or abroad, except the Authorised Version of God’s Word. Oh, should we not be singing with the Church of old: “All that fear God, come hear, I’ll tell what he did for my soul”? Psalm 66: 16.
Dear friends, let us remember that sins of omission are equally as heinous in the sight of God as those of commission. You remember how He counselled His dear church, thus:
“His testimony and his law
in Isr’el he did place,
and charg’d our fathers it to show
to their succeeding race.” Psalm 78: 5.
This is as if God were saying: Do not let any of you be ashamed to relate your deliverance; no more than David was to speak of the beauty and excellency of the Most High, even before Kings. Psalm 119: 46. Indeed, David seemed to find pleasure in obeying what God called on him to do. The Lord was saying to him in His Word: “I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.” It was a sweet morsel to David, and may it be sweet to your taste also. “O taste and see that God is good.” Psalm 34: 8.
- His command: “Open thy mouth wide”.
I trust that you are among those who have a good hope that God has spoken to you in this way. I firmly believe it was spoken to some, even as young as Abijah, in whose heart good was found in his youth. This command reminds us how poor Israel was feeding so long on the flesh pots in Egypt, while in darkness there. Nevertheless, God heard their groanings in Egypt and came to their aid, and is now going to nourish them with the “finest of the wheat”.
“The eyes of all things wait on Thee
the Giver of all good;
And thou, in time convenient,
bestow’st on them their food.” Psalm 145: 15.
To be without spiritual appetite is a sad condition to be in, in view of an endless eternity. I cannot remember whether I read, or whether someone told me, the following touching account of a young girl, who in her early teens developed tuberculosis for which there was at that time no cure, except to live in a very cold climate and get plenty of fresh air. Her parents sent her to Switzerland for this purpose. She was in the habit of writing home at least once a fortnight with an account of the progress in her health. At the conclusion of each letter she gave a brief account of the snow-white hills of Switzerland and praised the kindness of the doctors and nurses and then used the same sad words: “But, dear Mother, I still have no appetite”. Her Mother read much into this and realised that her daughter had not long to live in this world. The girl’s trouble was blessed to her for Eternity. Pray dear friends for an appetite for His Word.
During my ministry in the parish of Uig in Lewis I often visited the sanatorium in Stornoway where many young boys and girls suffered from this tragic disease. We had worship together and some of them would sing very well indeed and we felt a little nearness to the Lord in this worship. Blessed Job said in his own sufferings: “All the days of mine appointed time will I wait, till my change come.” Some of those boys and girls in the sanatorium were actuated with the same spirit during their illness until they closed their eyes in death. Ah, what a blessed change from such places and from such beds of languishing, to go into the place of which the prophet Isaiah so sweetly spoke when he said: “For since the beginning of the world men had not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” Isaiah 64: 4.
- His promise: “I will fill it.”
It is the proud of whom we read that God shall send them empty away. Pride is an abomination to the Lord and much of it is to be found in the heart of every one of us, as we are by nature. Yet the promise of the Lord to the weak and poor of His flock is: “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.” Isaiah 41: 17.
It is the Lord alone who has the keys of Hell and of death. It was a good thing for Lydia that Christ had a key that could open her heart which was closed and locked against Himself. However, He opened it and made a chamber there for Himself and implanted all the graces of the Holy Spirit. Are you asking the Lord to do that for you?
It was good for Abijah that the Holy Spirit put into his heart good and living desires after the God of Israel. Oh, how good it was for Joseph’s brethren that he was so kind to them in the face of their unworthiness when faced with famine and as it were every door closed on them. He supplied them in abundance as we read in Genesis 45: 22, “To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.” Oh, what a gracious Saviour we have! Today He is saying to you: “Open your mouth wide” in order to receive such promises as these: “I will never, never, leave thee nor forsake thee”, and again “Fear not little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Oh Jeremiah, whom I have loved with an everlasting love, open thy mouth wide, as wide as possible, for I have two sweet promises to put into the mouth of your soul. First, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love”, and second, “Therefore with loving kindnesses have I drawn thee.”
In our young days, Oh, how we looked forward to a Communion season, when the Gospel was declared to us in its purity, by some of our ministers whom we believe are now round about His throne, worshipping Him whom they loved and served so well during their time here, until they fell asleep in Jesus. Friday in particular was looked forward to with relish. Question day had a drawing power for the people when they could hear the brethren relate how God had taken them out of darkness into His own marvellous light. Many of His own dear people could identify with this and sat under His shadow with great delight. This was calculated to strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. What a loss of blessing to any church who dispense with this Means of Grace. Question day was also used by the brethren for rendering thanks to the Most High for the wonderful deliverance afforded the Church in 1893 when she was taken out of the darkness of Rainyism. Gospel lovers in our day are still rendering thanks and praise to the Lord for this deliverance, and the knowledge that as in the past He is able to fill the mouth that is opened wide to receive the blessing. God is still calling upon us, to come out from among them and to be separate from them. The duty is incumbent upon all those who are truly converted: “Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.”
I will fill it! It is indeed the proud that the Lord will send empty away. The poor man at the rich man’s gate would have arrived there often with an empty mouth but the Holy Spirit saw to it that he should leave with as full a mouth as David had when he said: “My cup runneth over”. This is the way we knew the Lord’s people of a past generation with an empty mouth until the Lord came with a crumb from the Gospel table. The Apostle Paul in Patmos had a wonderful view of the Church — seated round the throne of Glory singing of Him who loved them and gave Himself for them — thus: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain”.