– Psalm 50:1-6
The Mighty One, God, the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to where it sets.
From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines forth.
Our God comes
and will not be silent;
a fire devours before him,
and around him a tempest rages.
He summons the heavens above,
and the earth, that he may judge his people:
“Gather to me this consecrated people,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
And the heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for he is a God of justice.
Psalm 50 opens with God riding through the heavens, calling his people to assemble before him, “that he may judge his people,” and around him is blazing fire and storm clouds, reminiscent of the scene at mount Sinai where the Israelites were so afraid they didn’t even want God to speak to them.
If God is coming in that kind of terrible power for judgment, his people must have done something wrong, right? The mount Sinai scene was for the sake of proving his power and presence so that his people would listen to his law. For him to show up again like that must mean they’ve failed to keep those laws.
Perhaps they’ve started worshiping the idols of the nations around them, like they did with the golden calf at Sinai? Or maybe they’ve failed to keep the Sabbath holy? Maybe they’ve stopped offering the proper sacrifices at the temple?
That’s what I’d expect in reading this Psalm, but as we move through the text we find out that’s not the problem at all.
What God Doesn’t Need
“Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
v. 7-8
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
This isn’t an issue of sabbath-breaking. Israel hasn’t ceased to offer the commanded sacrifices. They’re not – at least in the words of the Psalmist – worshiping idols. So what’s the problem?
In verse 12 God is clear. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness is mine.” The problem is this: somewhere along the way the Israelites got the idea that God needed them and what they were doing.
Yahweh’s reminder includes fire, flame, and judgment: He doesn’t need sacrifices. He doesn’t need the help of his people. The Israelites are rebuked for doing exactly what God had commanded them, but from the wrong motives.
How often do we operate that way? In this Psalm God may well be summoning us before him because we have inverted the order of things. We think that we are necessary and that if we don’t do enough our family, ministry, or marriage is going to fall apart. Our tendency is to live as if the work we do for God adds value to him. We sacrifice time, energy, and money to prove our love. “See God? I’ve read my Bible every day this week. I talked with two people about Jesus. I served at my church. That proves I love you!”
What God Demands
When our performance becomes the measure of our love for God, we need to hear the words spoken to Israel in Psalm 50; “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving…the one who offers thanksgiving in his sacrifice glorifies me”. Rather than offering lives and labor to Him first, God’s calling his people to come with thanksgiving and gratitude.
What God demands first and foremost from his people is gratitude, not labor. Our thanksgiving glorifies him more than all of our hard work and sacrifice.
My friends, be aware of this danger. If we are to live as Christ’s people thanksgiving and gratefulness must be the tone of our lives. Not busyness or hard work. Thanksgiving.
When we become a grateful people it transforms the world around us. We realize that everything we have is a gift and complaining fades away. How generous our king! Then out from that gratefulness flows the life of service and labor that Christ has commanded.
A life that begins with labor is not the Christian life; it is a life of religious legalism. A life that begins with thanksgiving to God for his free gift of salvation, then overflows in joyful sacrifice is the life that glorifies Christ. What God demands first of us isn’t more work, it’s gratefulness.
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