Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways, I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes. Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him and their fate would last forever, but he would feed you with the finest of the wheat and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.
– Psalm 81:13–16
Oh, I love these verses, and at the same time, am so convicted by these verses. Why do I love them? Because this is God saying to you and me how much He wants to satisfy us.
Psalm 81:13–16 Reminds Us God Wants Us to Live for Him
This is a continuation of Psalm 81:10. God said, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of land of Egypt, open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” God, saying to us today, “just open your mouth wide and I will fill it. I will satisfy you, all that you need.” Just think of all you need today, strength, peace, help, mercy, perspective, wisdom, everything. Open your mouth wide. Seek the Lord and He will fill it.
Then you get to Verse 13. He says that, “my people would just listen to me.” Just hear the longing heart of God here. “Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways. I would subdue their enemies, turn my hand against their foes.” This is God saying to you and me today he is ready to help us. Not just ready, in a passive kind of way, actively. He is longing to provide for us if we will just listen to Him and walk in His ways, live according to His word. God says, “I would feed you with the finest of the wheat and with honey from the rock, I would satisfy you.” What a phrase, “with honey from the rock, I would satisfy you.” This is God right now speaking to you, saying, “I live to satisfy you.”
Psalm 81:13–16 Reminds Us God Longs to Satisfy Us
Let me just step back, even as I say that. Do you realize who’s saying this to you? God, the sovereign ruler of the universe, with all power, all beauty, all glory, all love, perfect, infinitely, holy, one true God over all is saying to you right now, “I want to satisfy you today. I want to give you everything you need. If only you will listen to me and walk in my ways.”
Oh God, we pray in light of Psalm 81, help us today to hear from you, to listen to you, and to walk in your ways today. We say, “Yes, we want your satisfaction with honey from the rock. And we want to be fed by you with the finest of wheat. We want you to subdue our enemies and turn our hand against our foes.” We pray for your help today in all the adversary’s, attempts to destroy our lives.
And we pray this not just over our lives, God, we pray this over people around us. Help us to point them to you and the honey from the rock that’s found in you. Help us to share your word with them in our homes and wherever we go today. God, we pray that you would help us to point others to the satisfaction that’s found in you, even as we pray for this to be spread among the nations, the good news of your grace, honey from your rock, your satisfaction.
Praying for Unreached People Groups
God, we pray for the spread of your word and your ways to the ends of the earth. That all the nations, especially unreached people groups, might be reached with this good news. Lord, satisfy them with your grace and your glory.
Oh God, help us today to listen to you. Help us to walk in your ways. Lord, help us to be fed by you, satisfied by you. We praise you, oh God, for wanting to do this in our lives. Thank you for making the way possible for us to be satisfied with honey from your rock. Oh God, we love your word and we pray according to it in Psalm 81:13–16. In Jesus name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
