Psalms 81:13 - Homiletics

God's lamentation over man's lost opportunities.

"Oh that my people," etc.! Among the saddest words ever spoken are those we utter concerning what might have been. Lost opportunities; neglected duties; mischance that was within a hairbreadth of good fortune; misunderstandings that a little candour or patience would have prevented; voices we do not listen to, but whose echoes haunt us; the joy, wealth, success, love, happiness, within our grasp, if we had not let them slip;—what a weight of meaning, depth of sadness, these put into the words, "It might have been"! How many lives are wearing themselves out in the gloom of failure or disappointment! what countless multitudes have closed in sorrow and shame, whose whole course would have been different, if at some "parting of the ways," perhaps in the early morning of life, they had not taken the wrong turn! A more awful depth of meaning and pathos belongs to the closing verses of this psalm. God's lamentation over man's lost opportunities. We speak of what might have been and has been; God speaks of what ought to have been on men's part, and what surely would have been on his.

I. GOD 'S VIEW OF HUMAN LIFE . The Bible mode of regarding human life differs from the way in which we naturally look at our own lives, by the same distinction which marks off Bible history from ordinary history, Bible poetry from ordinary poetry, Bible morality or ethics from those of ordinary moralists— supreme universal reference to God. Account for it as you please, the Scriptures in this respect stand apart from all other literature. Man naturally puts himself, as the old astronomers the earth, as the centre of all things. The Bible teaches him that God is the Centre as well as Source of all life ( Romans 11:36 ). Even religious people talk and think of religion as an important element in human life, essential to its true happiness, neglect of which is guilty and disastrous. The Bible speaks of and to men as made for God, missing the whole purpose and blessing of life if estranged from him. So while we look at what is , God's Word shows him beholding what ought to be. We picture what might have been, he tells us what would have been; we hope or fear what may be, he reveals what will be . We are absorbed in the present; God shows us its root in the past, its fruit in the future ( Galatians 6:7 , Galatians 6:8 ). It may be asked—What room, then, for repentance and pardon? Is not this to throw us back under the dominion and condemnation of law? Answer: God's laws are of two sorts: the law of love and duty, fulfilled by willing obedience, which, therefore, man can disobey and break; and natural laws—spiritual as well as material—which cannot be broken. For God to set them aside would be to destroy, not to save. E.g. the thief, the liar, the drunkard, may repent of his sin, and God will pardon it; but the restoration of confidence, and conscious sense of honesty, or the regaining of health destroyed by intemperance, can come only by the practice of the appropriate virtues.

II. THE REAL TURNING POINT OF LIFE . God's own voice here sets forth the blessings which Israel not only might, but certainly would, have enjoyed, if they had not flung them away wilfully, ungratefully, mealy ( Psalms 81:14-16 ). What, then, hindered? Where was the false step—"the parting of the ways"? Answer: Psalms 81:11 , Psalms 81:12 . This was the secret of all Israel's calamities and misery. Note that the Revised Version here uses the present and the future ( Psalms 81:13-16 ). The Hebrew equally admits this rendering; nothing forbids our combining both meanings. But the reference of the whole psalm is to the past. It begins with a shout of joy, referring to the Feast of Trumpets, the beginning of the (civil) year, and the Feast of Tabernacles, at full moon of the same month. Then looks back to the institution of these festivals, the Law of Moses, the deliverance from Egypt. Then to the whole subsequent history—one long record of rebellion and ingratitude ( Jeremiah 22:21 ). The LESSON is for us ( 1 Corinthians 10:11 ). By "turning point of life" I mean not some one fatal crisis, at some special time (though such there are, in many lives), but the guiding force, determining motive, master principle, which gives character to each day as well as to the whole life; makes each step an advance in the right path, or an error. Obedience to the voice of God. 1. In his Word ( John 10:27 ; John 12:47-50 ). 2. Conscience, which is the inward echo of God's voice. 3. His providence. 4. His Spirit, who alone can give the hearing ear and understanding heart. Here is something sadder yet: "Israel would none of me" ( John 5:40 , John 5:42 ; John 8:47 ). To disobey, to wander, to be lost, you need not resolve on self-destruction; you need only to be careless, let things drift, like one who sleeps when his boat is drifting towards the rapids. You can be careless. God cares, "Oh that my people," etc.! ( Luke 19:41 , Luke 19:42 ; Matthew 23:37 ).