I asked God for a verse this morning, something from His heart to mine, and He gave me this:

Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. Psalm 81:10b

When my boys were little guys, I would bring a spoon of deliciousness to their mouths and say, “Open wide.” Sometimes they would open like little birds, and sometimes they would stubbornly hold their lips together in silent refusal. So, I tried the old airplane hangar trick with special effect sounds and all. Sometimes it worked, but often they stuck to their stubborn refusal.

God asks me to open my heart and soul as wide as I can to receive His deliciousness. He promises to fill and flood me with the abundant richness of His own life and satisfy my deepest yearnings. My part is to simply open wide and receive it. His part is to fill me with more than I can hold.

I’m afraid there are times when I stubbornly press my lips together not trusting or believing His gift. I fall into the performance trap and think I need to do something to earn it or cause God to respond and fill me. Consider the baby birds. They do nothing but receive what’s given. God implores us to eat what is good, and let our soul delight in the abundance He so freely gives.

Andrew Murray wrote, “We have been made to be a vessel into which God can pour out His life, His beauty, His happiness, His love. We are created to be a receptacle and a reservoir of divine heavenly life and blessing, just as much as God can put into us.” [1]

He will fill you and me with exactly what we need and so much more, more than all we can ask or imagine. Just open wide and receive it.

Chew on this: Psalm 81:10, John 10:10, Ephesians 3:19-20 and Isaiah 55:2.

[1] Murray, Andrew. (1895). The Deeper Christian Life, An Aid to Its Attainment. Chicago, Illinois: Fleming H. Revell Company.