Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.
Our Psalm for this week, Psalm 50:7-23, should make us sit up and either be relieved or very angry. From the outset it is clear that God’s people are not doing wrong by offering sacrifices. We are not told in this Psalm to stop bringing offerings or to stop celebrating rituals in historic patterns. Though much preaching and teaching will use this passage to say that, it is simply not there.
The distinction made in the Psalm is between those who make their sacrifices with an attitude of humility and dependence on the one hand, and those who reject their need for God, preferring to embrace evil on the other hand. Verse 16 says the latter don’t even have the right to speak about God’s word.
How are we to live in light of this passage? We continue in worship as it has been handed down t ous. Yet we recognize that in our worship we are not providing something God needs. We are expressing our openness to what God provides. We are thanking God for his gifts to us, even as we encourage others in the same way. We who receive from God’s provision pass the blessing on to others, rejoicing in truth rather than in wickedness.
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