Psalm 81

Psalm 81
1 Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
2 Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.
3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.
4 For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.
5 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.
6 I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.
7 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.
8 Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you;
O Israel, if you would listen to Me!
9 Let there be no strange god among you;
Nor shall you worship any foreign god.
10 I, the LORD, am your God,
Who brought you up from the land of Egypt;
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
11 But My people did not listen to My voice,
And Israel did not obey Me.
12 So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart,
To walk in their own devices.
13 Oh that My people would listen to Me,
That Israel would walk in My ways!
14 I would quickly subdue their enemies
And turn My hand against their adversaries.
15 Those who hate the LORD would pretend obedience to Him,
And their time of punishment would be forever.
16 But I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
And with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.

In looking at this psalm, we see a call for Israel to praise God and worship Him upon instruments as the psalmist recounts how God established Israel after delivering them from the land of Egypt. In verse 8 the direction of the psalm changes as the Holy Spirit through the mouth of the psalmist begins to admonish the children of Israel to hear the word of the Lord.
God is pleading for His children to listen to His voice. God is still pleading for His children to hearken to His voice. As it was in the past with the Israelites, idolatry is still forbidden. Putting anything in the forefront of our lives besides the Lord that overrides His will for our lives, amounts to idolatry, whatever it may be.

God only wanted what was best for His chosen people, God still wants what is best for us, His chosen in Christ. If we will only hear and obey His voice, He will give us the best. How many times have we grieved our Lord and prevented Him from blessing us by not following Him and doing our own thing.

God only wants what is best for us. When we walk by faith and trust in His love and goodness, believing that His will is the absolute best that we can aspire to in this life, then we will experience the best that our Lord has to offer.

The question that we have to ask ourselves is this, do we really believe that God alone and following His will is the absolute best for us, or should I refrain from surrendering my all to Jesus out of fear that I know better than God what is best for me.