Note in Psalm 50 whom God was judging and why He was judging them. What were they doing right, and what did God want them to do? Then note who the wicked were and what they were doing that offended God. What is God’s desire for His people, according to this psalm? There are some startling statements in this psalm that can instruct us.
God was speaking to His people: He called them “my people” and Himself their God. Yet He was testifying against them. They were offering animal sacrifices continually before Him, which, given all we read about in the Law, would seem to be a good thing; however, God refused to accept their sacrifices. Instead of their animal sacrifices, He preferred their sacrifices of thanksgiving, their faithfulness to do what they had committed to Him to do, and their calling upon Him in the day of trouble. It appears that they were going through the motions of worship with their sacrifices, but neglecting what would further their intimacy with God. The substitution was unacceptable to God. Do we do the same?
He called people wicked who knew His statutes so well they could recite them, and who talked about a covenant relationship with God. They were wicked because they despised discipline and were not obedient to His words, despite their knowledge of His word. They demonstrated their wickedness by whom they spent their time with and by speaking deceitfully and slanderously. Does this challenge you at all? Do you suppose God sees you as a wicked person despite your knowledge of His word and claim to enjoy relationship with Him?
Psalm 53 points out that everyone is corrupt. How we need saving from our own corruption! As we learned from the previous psalm, God wants us to call on Him in our desperate need for salvation, and then do what the resulting covenant relationship calls us to do. Have you called on Him? Have you fulfilled your commitment?
Psalm 60 was written by David during the battles we read about yesterday. The accounts in II Samuel and I Chronicles made them seem like a piece of cake, didn’t they? This psalm gives us a different view. Are the two contradictory? Not at all; it’s that the historical accounts didn’t give the full story, but a quick news byte telling the outcome of the battles. This psalm was written during the heat of battle when the situation was desperate. Even when God gave those victories, all was not ease for the Israelites. The hard battle felt like God’s rejection. But happily, that wasn’t the end of the story. We can grieve in the hard times, but we must remember that they are not the end of the story. That is the power of thanksgiving: it helps us remember, putting our current situation into perspective.
Psalm 75 offers God that thanksgiving He desires. There is a precious verse in this psalm worth noting and remembering: “When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars.” Have you ever suffered a situation so difficult that it felt like your world had fallen apart? Or consider some of the awful things happening in this world that make it seem like it is falling apart. But God – He is steady. That is why He wants us to call upon Him in the day of trouble.
The horn spoken of in the psalm is a poetic reference to strength. There are different kinds of strength: physical strength, emotional strength, mental strength, positional strength…. Think about what this psalm says about horns in light of this.