Repent with Humility and Modesty

Psalm 50 talks about ethics and morals. In this Psalm, the writer rebukes those who fail in their repentance. He also admonishes those who do not practice what they have studied and only appear to be righteous. Their sins cause others to sin as well.

Almighty God, the Lord,
    Spoke and called to the earth
    from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Out of Zion, the place of perfect beauty,
    God appeared.
Our God comes; he does not keep silence;
    before him is a devouring fire,
    around him a mighty tempest.
He calls to the heavens above
    and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
“Gather to me my faithful ones,
    who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
The heavens declare his righteousness,
    for God is Judge forever! Selah
 
“Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
    O Israel, I will testify against you.
    I am God, your God. 
I will not reprove you concerning your sacrifices; 
   Neither are your burnt offerings before me constantly.
I will not accept a bull from your house
    or goats from your folds.
For every beast of the forest is mine,
    the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the hills,
    and all that moves in the field is mine.
“If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
    for the world and its fullness are mine.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls
    or drink the blood of goats?
Slaughter for God a confession
    and pay the Most High your vows. 
and call to Me on the day of distress;
    I will rescue you, and you will honor me.”
 
But to the wicked God says:
    “What right have you to recite my Laws
    or bear my covenant on your lips?
For you hate discipline,
    and you cast my words behind you.
If you see a thief, you are pleased with him,
    and you keep company with adulterers.
“You give your mouth free rein for evil,
    and your tongue frames deceit.
You sit and speak against your brother;
    you slander your own mother's son.
You have done these things, and I have kept silent;
    you thought that I was one like yourself.
But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.
“Understand this now, you who forget God,
    lest I tear you apart, and there be none to save you!
The one who offers confession as his sacrifice glorifies me;
    to one who orders his way rightly
    I will show the deliverance of God!”

When you read this Psalm you can see what God says about the sacrifices. He does not need the blood or the food but our obedience, our hearts turned towards Him. For He says, “Slaughter for God a confession, and pay the Most High your vows”. We must have a truly repentant heart to find rescue which honors God alone. 

The discussion of what pleases God and what doesn’t gives a view of what is right in God’s eyes versus what may be right in man’s. To be delivered by God is to be faithful to His Laws and Statutes. In the last few verses, the writer states that people believe God to be like them and think they can get away with evil. They forget God but God will remind them. 

To bring this to a close, God reminds us once again to confess our sins, our iniquities, our evil inclinations to Him and never return to them because a sacrifice means giving them up. How great and compassionate is our God who dwells with those who have faith and trust in Him.

Through God’s Grace and Mercy,
Rob, Servant of God