For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.
Passage: Psalm 50
1 The Mighty One, God, the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to where it sets.
2 From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines forth.
3 Our God comes
and will not be silent;
a fire devours before him,
and around him a tempest rages.
4 He summons the heavens above,
and the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 ‘Gather to me this consecrated people,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.’
6 And the heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for he is a God of justice.
7 ‘Listen, my people, and I will speak;
I will testify against you, Israel:
I am God, your God.
8 I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices
or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.
9 I have no need of a bull from your stall
or of goats from your pens,
10 for every animal of the forest is mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird in the mountains,
and the insects in the fields are mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 ‘Sacrifice thank-offerings to God,
fulfil your vows to the Most High,
15 and call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honour me.’
16 But to the wicked person, God says:
‘What right have you to recite my laws
or take my covenant on your lips?
17 You hate my instruction
and cast my words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you join with him;
you throw in your lot with adulterers.
19 You use your mouth for evil
and harness your tongue to deceit.
20 You sit and testify against your brother
and slander your own mother’s son.
21 When you did these things and I kept silent,
you thought I was exactly like you.
But I now arraign you
and set my accusations before you.
22 ‘Consider this, you who forget God,
or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
23 those who sacrifice thank-offerings honour me,
and to the blameless I will show my salvation.’
A. Find Out:
- How is God shown? v.1-6
- What did the Lord say He would do? v.7
- What did He say about their sacrifices? v.8-15
- Who did He speak against? v.16a
- List the things they had done wrong. v.17-20
- What did He say about all this? v.21,22
B. Think:
- How were the good to maintain a right perspective over sacrifices?
- How did the wicked think they were getting away with wrong?
- Yet what does this psalm warn?
C. Comment:
There seem to be two sides to this psalm. There are words to the righteous and words to the wicked. God separates them out and calls them to realise that He sees them differently.
First of all the righteous. They had been offering sacrifices just as the Law required. Yet there seems to be a sense that perhaps they had been feeling they had been “good” in bringing these offerings. The Lord wanted them to have a right perspective on this: when you offer a sacrifice it’s no great thing. God didn’t need the sacrifice, they did! God didn’t need forgiving, they did! God didn’t need food, they did! Everything belongs to God anyway, so He doesn’t have a need. Sacrifices are for the benefit or needs of the people, it was to meet their needs, so there is no ground for pride in doing it.
Then comes the word to the wicked, where the Lord exposes them. They had (presumably) been offering sacrifices yet joining themselves to thieves and adulterers, and had been speaking wickedness and had thought they were getting away with it because the Lord has so far said nothing about it. Now He does! Now He faces them with their sin and severely warns them: stop doing it or you will incur the wrath of God in divine judgement. You can’t be plainer than that!
D. Application:
- Sacrifices are for our benefit, not God’s. All we receive is grace.
- God may not shout when you sin but He sees and WILL act.