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Psalm 81:7
You 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.
5He appointed it in Joseph for a covenant, 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.
Notice
The turn from deliverance to testing can unsettle the hope that being rescued by God will mean no further hardship.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What past cry for help comes to mind as you read God’s words about deliverance?
Write on thisHow does God’s account of Meribah differ from your expectations of life after rescue?
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Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 50:15Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”Both passages link calling on God in trouble with his deliverance; Psalm 81 recalls the help Psalm 50 promises.
Exodus 19:19When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice.Both passages describe God answering with sound: thunder in the psalm, a voice answering Moses in Exodus.
Numbers 20:13These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.Both name the waters of Meribah, where the psalm recalls God’s testing and Numbers records Israel’s strife with him.
Exodus 17:7He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because the children of Israel quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us, …Both name Meribah and testing, though the psalm says God tested Israel while Exodus says Israel tested God.
Exodus 2:23In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to …Israel’s cry rises to God in Exodus; the psalm recalls God answering his people when they called in trouble.
Psalm 91:14–15“Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high, because he has known my name.Deliverance is God’s own pledge in Psalm 91 and his remembered act toward his people in Psalm 81.
Exodus 14:10When Pharaoh came near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were very afraid. The …Exodus records Israel crying to God in fear of the Egyptians; the psalm recalls their call in trouble and God’s deliverance.
Psalm 106:32They angered him also at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was troubled for their sakes;Both recall the waters of Meribah, with Psalm 81 naming God’s testing and Psalm 106 naming the people’s provocation.
Deuteronomy 8:2You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to test you, to know what was …Both recall God testing his people; Deuteronomy explains testing in terms of their hearts and obedience to his commands.
Deuteronomy 33:8About Levi he said, “Your Thummim and your Urim are with your godly one, whom you proved at Massah, with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah.Both recall Meribah in accounts of testing, with Deuteronomy speaking about Levi and the psalm addressing Israel.
Psalm 18:11He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.Both use storm imagery for God’s hidden presence: the secret place of thunder and a hiding place of darkness and clouds.
Numbers 20:24“Aaron shall be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against my word …Both name the waters of Meribah; the psalm recalls God’s testing there, while Numbers names rebellion against his word.
Where this verse fits
Answered prayer. doubt.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Israel’s rescue did not mean an end to testing. The God who answered their cry also tested them at Meribah; both belong to the history he tells.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).