Sunday Devotional 11th December 2022
by Bruce Billington
We are continuing to explore the knowledge of God as expressed in the Psalms. This week we are concluding Psalm 50, a Psalm of Asaph.
Psalm 50:23 “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honours Me; And to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God.”
This is a very well-known and oft quoted verse. It is continuing to reveal the heart of God in the Psalm by telling us that praise is the best sacrifice; and that we need to come before God with a true, earnest, gracious thanksgiving that is the result of a renewed mind.
For those who do this, God promises that they will become more and more instructed in the Way of the Lord and will be directed how to go about their lives. This blessing is not promised to those who do “good works” as necessary as they are – but to those who come before the Lord with grateful hearts and holy lives.
After the cross event, which is where we live today, we learn that Christ’s once-and-for-all sacrifice on the cross fully paid for our sins. As a result, what He seeks from us is that our works will reveal the genuineness of our faith, just as He desired that the Israelites’ sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving would demonstrate the sincerity of their hearts. Our lives will be different when we truly repent and are converted to a whole new way of life.
Everyone must make the decision on whether they are going to be forgiven or whether they will eventually face God’s judgement on their lives. This also decides where each person will spend eternity. In His great grace, God offers humanity the opportunity to repent and be saved, but the choice to respond or not, sits with each individual.
This verse also reminds us that it is very easy to ignore this expression in our lives. Too often we become too busy to bother or we even may consider it as something trivial, or unimportant and an unnecessary intrusion into our day. But contrary to this, God would have us be aware of His presence in every aspect of lives.
John Calvin expresses this well when referring to the words “honours Me” by stating he states that the words and actions,
imply that God is then truly and properly worshipped, and the glory which he requires [is] yielded to him, when his goodness is celebrated with a sincere and grateful heart; but that all the other sacrifices to which hypocrites attach such importance are worthless in his estimation, and no part whatsoever of his worship.
What is behind is this is that God calls upon us to enjoy Him and as we do so and order our “ways aright” we are told that we will see His salvation. This does not only mean where we will spend eternity. It means that God will reveal to us His leading and guiding of us and His everlasting love and faithfulness towards us in our everyday life. Rather than being something hidden, this relationship and blessing will become obvious to us, which of course, should lead us to further worship and thanksgiving. This is the Way of Life that Jesus came to bring us, and this is what it means to truly participate in the true salvation and everyday life that can only be found in Christ.
As we have studied this Psalm, we notice that it begins with the judgement of God made against Israel for its dishonouring of Him in all their ways, including their sacrifices, and for thinking that God needed them and what they had. But it ends with God offering true salvation.
A description is given on how to relate and walk with God in a way that will result in His endless love, mercy, and grace, overwhelming us and leading us through a troubled world, with His blessing going before us and His covering protecting us.
The song of the great hymn, “What A Mighty God we serve”, come to mind as we meditate on all of this.
What a mighty God we serve.
What a mighty God we serve.
Angels bow before Him.
Heaven and earth adore Him.
What a mighty God we serve.
God bless you.
Bruce Billington.