Psalm 50:7-15 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 50:7-15 on biblegateway.com
Verse 7"Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
Verse 8Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
Verse 9I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds.
Verse 10For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
Verse 11I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine.
Verse 12"If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.
Verse 13Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
Verse 14Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.
Verse 15Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."
Devotion
In Psalm 50 the psalmist becomes a spokesperson for God about how and why we worship. Speaking for God the psalmist reminds us that God does not need or require offerings that are just going through the motions, like performances of checking the boxes of our “faith checklist.” God desires something much deeper than that.
What God requires has to do with the expression of a relationship of trust and dependence. That relationship is evidenced in thanksgiving and the confidence that God will deliver us in the time of trouble. With such confidence we are invited to let go of our need to prove ourselves, let go of our striving, and instead turn toward our Creator God with gratitude and trust.
Prayer
Creator God, free us from the need to prove ourselves, and turn our hearts from striving to trust. Teach us to come before you with gratitude and to call on you in every need, knowing you are near. Amen.
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