What Is God’s Desire for Our Lives?

“For it was I, the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and fill it with good things” (Psalm 81:10).

Times of pain bring me to my knees. Is this what Jesus felt like? Whether the pain of physical ailment or sickness, or the agony of betrayal and heartache - Jesus can relate. Though pain is inevitable this side of heaven, God doesn’t want those things for us. His plan for our lives is good, and Jesus died so we could live life the full. How does our reality reconcile with God’s goodness? Through Jesus.

The verse in Psalms featured in this piece proclaims the Lord will fill us with good things. Us, His people. God’s desire for our lives is not to fall victim to the discouragement we experience throughout our lives, but to choose to focus on the good things He is filling our lives with simultaneously. He is good. Everything He created is good. When He looks at us, He sees the good creation He made, to do the good things He has purposed for us!

What Does “Open Your Mouth Wide” Mean?

Open your mouth wide refers to the way God provided His people with manna in the desert, while they were traveling from Egypt to the Promised Land. He provided for them then, and He was reminding them - He is still God! He is still their Provider. “The Lord wants his people to listen to him,” the ESV Global Study Bible explains, “to receive the covenant as an expression of his grace, to believe in him, and to live as he directs.” God wants us to realize He is trustworthy, faithful, and good. He has never broken a promise, and He loves us as we are.

God is reliable. Open your mouth wide means to allow God to do what He has always done – provide for us. He will always make a way. Always has. He will always love us. Always has. “Just as He fed the people with manna in the wilderness of Egypt, so God commanded the, Open your mouth wide and I will fill it, not with manna this time, but with His own goodness.” (Rydelnik, Valaningham, Barbieri, et al., 2014b) He fills our lives with goodness, yet we’re often too distracted with the bad things in life to see it – to see Him.

What Are the “Good Things” God Wants for Us?

“Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:18-20).

Whether we struggle with addiction, pornography, honesty, faithfulness, pride, selfishness, jealousy, arrogance – God still loves us. He knows the way to life to the full, and sin isn’t it. Jesus died to make a way for us to receive the good things God fills our lives with. A gift isn’t a gift if it isn’t received. It’s our choice to embrace God’s Gift – Jesus. He is the way. Though Him, we are filled with the Spirit Paul wrote to the Corinthians about. Filling ourselves with worship and rejoicing, embracing the joy which is ours in Christ. Being filled with the Spirit is much more enjoyable than being filled with anything else this earth could offer. Jerry Vines explains:

“Every believer is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We cannot think about it, vote on it, or consider it. The verse form is a direct command- ‘be filled with the Spirit.’ This is a continuous action to seek. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is not some end-all experience but an everyday affair. Interestingly, while we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit, we cannot do it ourselves. God fills us! Nor is the filling of the Spirit something reserved for a select few. It is for every believer.”

The Voice paraphrase of Ephesians 5:18-20 reads:

“Don’t drink wine excessively. The drunken path is a reckless path. It leads nowhere. Instead, let God fill you with the Holy Spirit. When you are filled with the Spirit, you are empowered to speak to each other in the soulful words of pious songs, hymns, and spiritual songs; to sing and make music with all your hearts attuned to God; and to give thanks to God the Father every day through the name of our Lord Jesus the Anointed for all He has done.”

God wants the fruit of the Spirit to flow from our lives, evidence of the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Who Is God Speaking to?

“As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgement on this point” (1 Corinthians 4:3).

Throughout the Old Testament, God spoke to His chosen people, the Israelites. Living in the New Testament, we are all grafted into the family of God through Christ Jesus. Everyone has the opportunity to open their mouths wide to be filled by God. All it takes is salvation through Christ, which is nothing any of us can earn or accomplish. Christ has already done this, once for all. We are all invited to accept Christ and follow Him into the presence of God. He made a way for us. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

Paul continued in his letter to the Corinthians, to explain why it’s important not to judge others in their journey:

“My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide. So don’t make judgements about anyone ahead of time - before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Than God will give to each one whatever praise is due” (1 Corinthians 4:4-5).

When we can look around, whether at people we love or people we don’t love so much, and realize we’re all loved the same by God, we’ll begin to understand the senselessness of comparison and jealousy. No one person is alike in this world, but we all have the same opportunity to embrace life through Christ:

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved” (Romans 10:9-10).

If we will open our hearts to Him, God will fill us to the brim and overflowing. He is all we need and everything we are looking for.

Sources

Rydelnik, M., Vanlaningham, M., Barbieri, L. A., Boyle, M., Coakley, J., Dyer, C. H., Finkbeiner, D., Goodrich, J. K., Green, D., Hart, J. F., Jelinek, J., Koessler, J. M., Marty, W. H., Mayhew, E. J., McCord, W., McMath, J., Neely, W., O’Neal, B., Peterman, G. W., . . . Zuber, K. D. (2014b). The Moody Bible Commentary (New). Moody Publishers

Bibles, E., & Chua, H. C. (2018). ESV Global Study Bible (Illustrated). Crossway.

Meg Bucher Meg writes about everyday life within the love of Christ at megbucher.com. She is the author of “Friends with Everyone, Friendship within the Love of Christ,” “Surface, Unlocking the Gift of Sensitivity,” “Glory Up, The Everyday Pursuit of Praise,” “Home, Finding Our Identity in Christ,” and "Sent, Faith in Motion." Meg earned a Marketing/PR degree from Ashland University but stepped out of the business world to stay home and raise her two daughters …which led her to pursue her writing passion. A contributing writer for Salem Web Network since 2016, Meg is now thrilled to be a part of the editorial team at Salem Web Network. Meg loves being involved in her community and local church, leads Bible study, and serves as a youth leader for teen girls.