Daily Prayer Devotional for Women and Men | OnlinePrayerJournal

Pray

Read

For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.

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, fulfill your vows to the Most High, 15 and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” 16 But to the wicked person, God says: 16 “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 honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation.”

Meditate

Consider

Think Further

Offering thanksgiving to God is encouraged throughout the Scriptures. This psalm is a case in point. The people are to sacrifice ‘thank offerings’ to him (vv. 14, 23) or, as the NRSV renders verse 23, bring ‘thanksgiving as their sacrifice.’ Why is thanksgiving so important? Part of the answer is that it sets our relationship with God in the right perspective: he is the giver, and we are the recipients. The people were bringing extravagant ‘sacrifices’ to God, thinking they were somehow benefiting him (vv. 12, 13). However, he does not need food or drink; rather, as Paul reminds us, he is no one’s debtor.1 He is the mighty, covenant-making, covenant- keeping God, faithful in creation and salvation (see vv. 1, 10, 11, 23). He needs nothing from us, but graciously draws us into a saving knowledge of himself.

Verse 15 sums up the nature of the relationship: ‘I will deliver you, and you will honor me.’ The discipline of regular thanksgiving reminds us of this. We are all beneficiaries of his grace, and this is as true for the most mature Christian as it is for the most recent convert.

As you give thanks to him today, there may be many things in your personal circumstances you’re grateful for, but it may be you’re facing a ‘day of trouble’ (v. 15) and can’t think of too much in your immediate situation that leads to thankfulness. Yet, if you know God through Jesus by the Spirit, you have his infinite riches. Use the themes of this psalm—for example, God’s majesty, righteousness, salvation—as prompts for prayer. Give thanks and, in so doing, set the pattern of your relationship with him.

1 Rom 11:34–36, especially v. 35; cf. Job 41:11 2‘He Giveth More Grace’, Annie Johnson Flint, 1093.

Apply

Pray