Sing for Joy to God Our Strength

IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Sing for Joy to God Our Strength

Date: Apr. 14, 2016

Passage

Psalm 81:1-16 (ESV)

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.

1   Sing aloud to God our strength;
    shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
2   Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
    the sweet lyre with the harp.
3   Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
    at the full moon, on our feast day.
4   For it is a statute for Israel,
    a rule of the God of Jacob.
5   He made it a decree in Joseph
    when he went out over the land of Egypt.
  I hear a language I had not known:
6   “I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
    your hands were freed from the basket.
7   In distress you called, and I delivered you;
    I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
    I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8   Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
    O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9   There shall be no strange god among you;
    you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10   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.
11   “But my people did not listen to my voice;
    Israel would not submit to me.
12   So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
    to follow their own counsels.
13   Oh, that my people would listen to me,
    that Israel would walk in my ways!
14   I would soon subdue their enemies
    and turn my hand against their foes.
15   Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him,
    and their fate would last forever.
16   But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
    and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved.

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Daily Bread

Key Verse: 81:1

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.

1 Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob!

First, sing to God our strength (1-10). This psalm was read aloud during the Feast of Trumpets. This was a time to commemorate God's saving grace. In the opening verse the people are called to sing praises to God who is their source of strength and to make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob. The musicians are also invited to play their instruments to him. The psalmist then reminds them of God's saving grace in bringing them up out of Egypt, removing the burden from their shoulders and the baskets from their hands used to carry clay and bricks (6). He warns them not to follow other gods but worship their God only (9). Praise God who delivered us from sin and fills us with good things (10).

Second, but my people would not listen to me (11-16). Again the psalmist recounts the past to warn his people from falling away from God. Israel did not listen to God nor submit to his ways. So God gave them over in the stubbornness of their hearts. If we listen and obey, God will subdue our enemies and fill us with sweet honey from the rock (Christ).

Prayer: Prayer: Lord, forgive my stubbornness. Help me to submit to your ways. Fill me with the honey of your word that comes from Christ my Rock of salvation.

One Word: Sing to God our Strength

Complacent or Victorious?

Revelation 3:1-13

Key Verse: 3:5

The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.

Today's Question

How is Christ exalted?

See answer and references