Saturday, December 6, 2008

Psalm 50.16-23 But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips?

Psalm 50.16-23

But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take 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. 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. Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver! The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”

The world demands a god of their understanding, a god they can manipulate in order to get what they want. Their god is a god of weakness and failings like themselves. Their god tears them apart and leaves them in ruin; he cannot deliver.

Ah, but You answer the one who seeks, to “draw near to You and You will draw near to me.” To believe in You is to obey You. My sacrifice of thanksgiving is a sacrifice of obedience. The right ordering of my way is to fear You, for that is the beginning of wisdom. And the fear of You comes through endless praise of You. May Your praise be ever in my mouth!

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