- Fill the Mouth
Psalm 81:10
I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt:
open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
“I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.” The Lord spoke these identical words in Exodus 20 when He made the Covenant with the people of Israel through Moses. These words are the Gospel, God’s part of the covenant declaring who He is and what He has done for the people. Their part of the covenant arrangement was to keep the Ten Commandments. The Covenant: “Because I have done this for you therefore you will do this for me, ‘Thou shalt….’ God kept His promise and His part of the covenant, but the people, collectively and individually, did not keep their part, so the covenant is broken. However, Jesus kept the Ten Commandments perfectly in my place and by doing so He reestablished the covenant bond between God and me; the Covenant is now in force and God is obligated to keep His part of the relationship: “I am your God and I saved you from Sin, Death and the Devil.”
There is more now added to this basic Gospel promise: “I will fill your mouth, that is, I will provide for you all you needs.” The Lord your God will give you life and everything you need to nourish and enjoy that life. But there is one condition: “Open you mouth wide.” If you open your mouth wide, then I will fill it with what is needed.
Opening your mouth wide is a metaphor for believing God. Opening your mouth wide means that you are a receiver. You do not do it; you do not make it happen; you do not earn it or work for it. You simply receive. God is pouring out blessings. The only thing that would prevent the blessing is a closed mouth of defiant unbelief. Unfortunately, that is what happened: God goes on to say in the next verse, “But my people did not listen…would not submit.”
The Lord has already saved you, and now He wants to daily, richly and abundantly provide for you everything you need, like: forgiveness of sins, eternal life now, salvation, deliverance, peace with God, joy in the Lord, hope, answers to prayer, safety and protection from the enemy, victory of all evil of body and soul, a productive job and vocation, a blessed marriage and family, and we could go on and on. Enough said; He wants to fill your mouth. Opening your mouth signals the expectation of feeding and filling, like a baby bird; it means making room for God and his gifts; it means receptivity to the goodness of God, grace without merit. It simply means faith. It is like the widow and her two sons who were told by Elisha to borrow vessels from the neighbors, empty vessels and not a few. Then they poured from one little jar of oil until all the gathered vessels were full of oil.
The Lord opens our mouth wide in anticipation and expectation in order to receive what God wants to give to fill us with good things. Unbelief keeps the mouth shut; when the Gospel is heard faith is engendered and the Holy Spirit opens the mouth. Just like God promises salvation so He promises a filling.