28 Feb 2023
“I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer, O Lord, do not delay!” (Psalm 70:5)
“Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it” (Psalm 81:10)
By God’s grace, I came to believe in Jesus and the gospel in 1968, when I was 19 years old. Today, I am in my seventies – and the two verses in Psalms (70:5; 81:10) continue to be so relevant to me, and continue to speak to me and remind me who God (the Triune God) is, and who I am, in contrast. They continue to ‘speak’ each time I come to Him in my quiet moments and as I reflect on the Bible and look to Him in communion; they ‘put’ me in my proper position before Him as one who is the original sinner, the wretched and perverse who needs Him constantly and who often misses His way in my life. They emphasise the need for me to keep in touch with Him as I should, lest I wander away in my apparent wisdom and make mistakes over and over again.
Over the many years since 1968, I have seen and read many Christian books, and heard many sermons, messages, and also attended many conferences, seminars, on Christian living and our walk with God. The number of books on Christian living and theology printed over these years is mind-boggling, but what comes through to me again and again is that the quantity of theological notions in one’s mind, even correct ones, do not say anything about one’s relationship with God. The fact that one knows a lot of theology does not mean that one’s relationship with God is right or is going to be right. There is a vast difference between knowing notions and knowing God.
When an array of food is placed before us on the table, an appetite may not be forthcoming if we are not hungry. Only a sense of spiritual hunger and need give us an appetite for the Word of God. As the Psalmist said, we need to recognise that we are poor and needy spiritually as we come before God, despite the many years of walking with Him and the many notions, and ‘knowledge’ we gather over these years. We need, as the Psalmist revealed, to open our mouth wide to ask God to fill it; our times with the Bible, in worship services, in Bible study, – all these are meant to be times for knowing God, for worshipping Him, for adoring Him for who He is and for what He has done, and is doing in our lives.
But if we are filled with inflated ideas and notions that we receive over the years, even apparently theologically correct ones which do not ‘impart life’ to us from the Triune God, then we have to learn tragically that “knowledge puffs up but love builds up”. If we think that we are ‘full’ and need no longer yearn for more spiritual food’, then there is no more room for the Spirit to ‘speak’ to us.
Abraham Lincoln was the one who was quoted to say, “You can fool some people most of the time; you can fool most people some of the time, but you cannot fool all people all of the time” (my paraphrased version). But what is even more significant is to know that we cannot ‘fool God’ – He knows all things and He sees all things and He sees clearly the spiritual emptiness and needs in our lives even if our ‘heads’ are filled with apparently much knowledge.
This is what the Lord says:
“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?’ declares the Lord.
These are the ones I look on with favour; those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word” (Isaiah 66:1-2).
Dear brothers and sisters, hearken to the words of the Psalmist and know for sure that there is very much more we need to know from God; let us ask God to continue to fill us as we humbly open our mouths wide to receive, and let us continue to nurture a spirit of spiritual hunger and build up a wonderful appetite to receive from Him the spiritual food we sorely need for our Chrisian life. We are yet to know all that we need to know.