The last thing you want to follow is your sinful heart.
Psalm 81 (NIV)
For the director of music. According to gittith. Of Asaph.
1 Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout aloud to the God of Jacob!
2 Begin the music, strike the timbrel,
play the melodious harp and lyre.
3 Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon,
and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival;
4 this is a decree for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 When God went out against Egypt,
he established it as a statute for Joseph.
I heard an unknown voice say:
6 “I removed the burden from their shoulders;
their hands were set free from the basket.
7 In your distress you called and I rescued you,
I answered you out of a thundercloud;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
8 Hear me, my people, and I will warn you—
if you would only listen to me, Israel!
9 You shall have no foreign god among you;
you shall not worship any god other than me.
10 I am the LORD your God,
who brought you up out of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.
11 “But my people would not listen to me;
Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
to follow their own devices.
13 “If my people would only listen to me,
if Israel would only follow my ways,
14 how quickly I would subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes!
15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,
and their punishment would last forever.
16 But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
Canons of Dordt
Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election
6 - God’s Eternal Decision
The fact that
some receive from God the gift of faith within time,
and that others do not,
stems from his eternal decree.
For “all his works are known to God from eternity” (Acts 15:18; Eph. 1:11).
In accordance with this decree
God graciously
softens the hearts, however hard, of the elect
and inclines them to believe,
but by a just judgment
God leaves
in their wickedness and hardness of heart
those who have not been chosen.
And in this especially is disclosed to us God’s act
—unfathomable, and as merciful as it is just—
of distinguishing between people equally lost.
This is the well-known decree of election and reprobation revealed in God’s Word.
The wicked, impure, and unstable distort this decree to their own ruin,
but it provides holy and godly souls with comfort beyond words.
Summary
Psalm 81 begins as a thunderous call to worship. There are times when our behavior in worship ought to be reverent and subdued (God is in His temple, all within keep silent, Hab. 2:20), and then there are times where we're to begin the music, strike the timbrel, and play the melodious harp and lyre.
In an age where many have settled for a mere livestream connection to watch others worship, Psalm 81 reminds us that we have an obligation to participate in gathered corporate worship. God's instruction for His people to come together and worship is described as a decree, an ordinance, and a statute.
Calling people together for a time of energetic, musically driven praise often isn't difficult, and large crowds eagerly attend. But Psalm 81 paints a far more comprehensive picture of what worship must include. Certainly good, energetic music is a big part of it as we praise God for removing the burden from our shoulders and setting our hands free from the basket, but gathered worship also forms a vehicle through which God's people receive His solemn rebuke for sin that remains in our lives.
God has promised to fill our mouths, subdue our enemies, and feed us with the finest wheat and honey, yet our sinful nature sends us looking for those good things from anywhere but God. Yet it's as God's Word is proclaimed over us during public worship, that our Father gently chides and reminds us that we shall not worship any god other than Him.
Dig Deeper
Often critics of the Calvinism (or 'doctrines of grace') taught in the Canons complain that they portray a God who arbitrarily forces people to come to predetermined conclusions about their relationship with Him, making us little more than robots. But the more we begin to better understand this doctrine of Unconditional Election, the more it becomes clear that this isn't the case at all.
Obviously, as the name of the doctrine implies, God has for His own good reasons (reasons not conditioned by anything else) decreed that some will receive the gift of faith... and others will not. That's a tough concept to comprehend in and of itself, but let's not make it tougher by misconstruing it. Simply put, God does not compel anybody to do anything.
Psalm 81 helps us to understand this. Notice how God's loving call of warning goes out to all people: Hear me... I will warn you... if only you will listen to me! He genuinely wants all people to return to Him (1 Timothy 2:4). Yet God always gives everybody what they want! When the people failed to respond to His pleas to return to Him, God lets them go. I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, He says, to follow their own devices.
Remember, the only reason that you have heard and responded to God's call for you to return to Him is because He has graciously opened your eyes and ears, a gift unconditioned by anything you have done, and which He will never take from you. He has regenerated your heart so that you now truly want to live for Him. But remember to continually participate in gathered corporate worship which reminds and guides you to freely submit to God and follow His ways.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the LORD our God, who brought us up from slavery;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for calling you to worship Him, and pray that by His grace you will desire to gather with His people to praise Him and be reminded to not worship any god other than Him;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Acts 12
