"A Psalm of Asaph.
The Mighty One, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.
3 Our God comes; he does not keep silence;
before him is a devouring fire,
around him a mighty tempest.
4 He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6 The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge! Selah
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and its fullness are mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and perform your vows to the Most High,
15 and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
16 But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to recite my statutes
or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline,
and you cast my words behind you.
18 If you see a thief, you are pleased with him,
and you keep company with adulterers.
19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil,
and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother;
you slander your own mother's son.
21 These things you have done, and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one like yourself.
But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.
22 “Mark this, then, you who forget God,
lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!
23 The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!”"
Psalm 50
The first stanza, 1-6, unfolds a 'theophany', i.e. a dramatic 'appearance' of God in vindication or judgment of His people. And, if God is a real God, why should it be thought unlikely or strange that he should appear like this, demonstrating His reality? It is a measure of the Sadduceeism of our day that, even in the Church, to speak of God really breaking in is regarded with embarrassment, as if it were a violation of the rules of social etiquette even to speak of such a possibility. The Sadducees were the rationalists of our Lord's day, but they are with us in every age, and nothing would surprise them more than to encounter a real, living God! What is said in 21 seems to confirm the Sadducean idea of a God remote from the affairs of men, but 1-6 provide a grim 'moment of truth' for such an attitude. We should note the present tense in 3: it is an indication that this judgment scene is true both of the final Assize and also of those times when God intervenes to institute a time of reckoning for His people. For there are such times, even in this life, when actions are weighed and accounts rendered (cf 1 Samuel 2, where the house of Eli was 'weighed and found wanting'). The summons in 5 is to God's people to appear before Him to give an account of their stewardship. They had made a covenant with Him by sacrifice, i.e. they had sealed their commitment to Him in this solemn way, and now God was enquiring of them how they had kept that covenant. He had been faithful with them, but how had they dealt with Him. One has only to think of the 'covenant' that Church members make when they 'join the Church' to see how relevant the message of the Psalm is for today. 'What about these vows that you made?' asks God, 'Have they been honoured, or neglected?'