Today's Featured Psalm
Psalm 50

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A Psalm of Asaph.

1 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!”

Scripture taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Psalm Devotional
A Warning

“For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God.” These sobering words of 1 Peter 4:17 (NKJV) summarize the message of Psalm 50. It is a resounding call for the people of God to reexamine the character of their faith and the sincerity of their worship.

Psalm 50 begins with a scene that recalls God’s revelation at Sinai, with God appearing like a storm in all His glory (v. 3). He shines forth out of Zion (v. 2), but it is Zion that He has come to judge (v. 4). The heavens and earth are called to bear witness to God’s judgment against His own people—but what follows is a warning rather than a verdict. The message is meant to expose hard truths, stir the conscience, and rouse God’s people to greater faithfulness.

God first addresses those for whom worship had become a mere procedure rather than an earnest encounter with the Savior. The ritual of sacrifice had become devoid of genuine thanksgiving (vv. 7-14). While the form of true worship has changed since the advent of Christ, the church still faces the onset of impassive formality that often threatens to overcome the faithful sincerity God deserves in our worship.

Listen to this Psalm

Covenant album art God, Most Supreme in Might (Psalm 50A)
The Book of Psalms for Worship | Covenant
Covenant album art O You, My People Hear (Psalm 50B)
The Book of Psalms for Worship | Covenant
Covenant album art But to the Wicked One (Psalm 50C)
The Book of Psalms for Worship | Covenant