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Psalms 81
1Sing aloud to God, our strength! Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob!
2Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine, the pleasant lyre with the harp.
3Blow the trumpet at the New Moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.
4For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5He appointed it in Joseph for a , when he went out over the land of Egypt, I heard a language that I didn’t know.
6“I removed his shoulder from the burden. His hands were freed from the basket.
7You called in trouble, and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah.” Selah.
8“Hear, my people, and I will testify to you, Israel, if you would listen to me!
9There shall be no strange god in you, neither shall you worship any foreign god.
10I am the LORD, your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel none of me.
12So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels.
13Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!
14I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries.
15The haters of the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever.
16But he would have also fed them with the finest of the wheat. I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock.”
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Questions this passage answers
Who is God?
God is the one living Creator who made everything and depends on nothing, and Scripture answers this question mainly by telling us his character rather than by defining his substance. When God described himself to Moses he said he is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness and truth, and yet will by no means clear the guilty. The New Testament adds that this God is finally known in Jesus Christ, who has made him known.
Who wrote the Bible?
The Bible was written by many human authors over a long period, and Scripture presents itself as God-breathed rather than as human opinion. Some books name their writer, some do not, and honest study says which is which. Paul calls every Scripture God-breathed, and Peter says no prophecy came by the will of man but that people spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, which is the Bible's own account of how both authors are involved at once.
Can the Bible be trusted?
Scripture claims to be true and invites examination rather than avoiding it. It says God's word is truth and that it stands when everything else fades, and the New Testament writers appeal to eyewitnesses, named places and public events rather than to private experience. Trust in Scripture is finally trust in the God who speaks in it, and the clearest reason a Christian gives for that trust is that Jesus treated these writings as God's own word.
How should I pray?
When the disciples asked this, Jesus answered with a pattern rather than a technique. Pray to your Father, in private, without performance and without needing many words, because he already knows what you need. The prayer he gave begins with God's name, kingdom and will, then asks for bread, forgiveness and protection. Scripture adds that we may bring everything, that the Spirit helps our weakness, and that we can ask with confidence when we ask according to God's will.