Daily Devotional Reading from the Psalms
Psalm 50:14–23
14 Offer unto God thanksgiving;
And pay thy vows unto the most High:
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble:
I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
16 But unto the wicked God saith,
What hast thou to do to declare my statutes,
Or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
17 Seeing thou hatest instruction,
And castest my words behind thee.
18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him,
And hast been partaker with adulterers.
19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil,
And thy tongue frameth deceit.
20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother;
Thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.
21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence;
Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself:
But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
22 Now consider this, ye that forget God,
Lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me:
And to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.
In Psalm 50 God is judge. The surprising thing is that he is judging those who say they are his people. That is appropriate isn’t it?
1 Peter 4:17
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
In the first part of the Psalm (Ps 50:1-13) he deals with the religious crowd that misunderstand their own practices. They think their acts of religion earn God’s favor and make them righteous but in reality they were to remind them of their inability to please God and their need of his substitutionary sacrifice. God tells them that he does not need their sacrifice (vs.8-13). We must remember that he deserves our worship and if we are doing it in order to “make a deal” with God then our reasons for worship ruin it.
In today’s reading he deals with those who talk of the Lord and his word without applying it to their lives.
Psalm 50:16 But unto the wicked God saith,
What hast thou to do to declare my statutes,
Or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
Did you get what he just said? Why do you have my holy word on your mouth if it has no practical meaning? In the following verses he shows that they are talking a big talk but walking a very bad walk. He mentions how they hate to be told what to do, even if it is coming from his word (vs.17). They hear it and immediately cast it to the back of their mind (vs. 17). They participate in theft and adultery (vs.18). Wicked talk, dishonesty (vs.19), gossip and slander (vs. 20) characterize their speech. We must be careful that we are trying to live with our lives what we are saying with our lips. It is common to see people post Bible verse on their Facebook page right beside cursing, just like these the Lord rebukes in this reading.
James 3:10
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Our religion does not give us a ticket to do whatever we want. Our belief in God and our gratitude to him is a reason to try, not an excuse to yield to temptation. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” was not written as an indulgence, giving us a free pass to wickedness. My heart broke when just yesterday I saw someone disrespect the Lord Jesus with an awful post encouraging everyone to sin so that our Lord would not have died for nothing. The post was wicked and unholy and hurt the heart of God. I like Paul feel that I am the chief of sinners but I hate my sin, I despise my weakness. I believe that my Jesus didn’t suffer so I would stay the same. How awful would it be if all he endured made me worse and not better?
Our Lord’s words in the last two verses of the Psalm is both haunting and encouraging. If you are his, expect him to intervene in your life and help you grow into his likeness, if you are not then severe and eternal judgement awaits.
Psalms 50:22-23
22 Now consider this, ye that forget God,
lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me:
and to him that ordereth his conversation aright
will I shew the salvation of God.