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. – Psalm 50:16-20 ESV

Warrior;
The book of Psalms is a multi-emotional cacophony of CRYING OUT LOUD. The Psalms consist of prophecy, songs, and prayer. It is RAW and it is EMOTIONAL. The Psalms contain deep expressions of pain, hopelessness, and despair and the highest expressions of praise. No matter where a psalm begins, the Psalter ends with a profound sense of hope and confidence in God’s faithfulness. Matthew Henry says this about Psalm 50; “This psalm is a psalm of instruction. It tells of the coming of Christ and the day of judgment, in which God will call men to account; and the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of judgement. All the children of men are concerned to know the right way of worshipping the Lord, in spirit and in truth. In the great day, our God shall come, and make those hear his judgement who would not hearken to his law. Happy are those who come into the covenant of grace, by faith in the Redeemer’s atoning sacrifice, and show the sincerity of their love by fruits of righteousness. When God rejects the services of those who rest in outside performances, he will graciously accept those who seek him aright. It is only by sacrifice, by Christ, the great Sacrifice, from whom the sacrifices of the law derived what value they had, that we can be accepted of God. True and righteous are his judgments; even sinners’ own consciences will be forced to acknowledge the righteousness of God”.

Leader, there are some important REMINDERS in this Psalm. God has us REMEMBER: 1- There are only 2 groups of people: Redeemed and NON- redeemed. There are only 2 RACES: the RIGHTEOUS and the WICKED. Not Black and White, NOT Transgender and Cisgender, NOT Trump or Biden. There are those who call on the Lord as Savior, and those who believe “I GOT THIS”. It is written: “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his Law, day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction”. (Psalm 1) The Second recurring message is- ‘To obey is better than sacrifice, and to love God and our neighbor better than all burnt-offerings’. We are here warned not to rest in these ritual performances, the RELIGION of doing so that God is mandated to accept us- we must beware of resting in any form of WORKS- self-righteousness. God demands the heart, and how can human inventions please him, when repentance, faith, and holiness are neglected? Hear the Word of the Lord: “And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22) To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. (Proverbs 21:3) For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hose 6:6) It has always been GRACE alone, through FAITH alone, in CHRIST alone, to the GLORY OF GOD alone, and the BIBLE alone!

Conduit, I would highly recommend ruminating on the whole of Psalm 50, not just today’s highlighted verses. The third of the Ten Commandments recognizes that God has entrusted to us something special, something precious. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” (Exodus 20:7) He has invited us into a relationship with Him. He has given us His name. We must not take this for granted. The New Living Translation puts it this way, “You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name”. When we make GOD IN OUR IMAGE, and we pretend to follow him, OUR WAY, we MISUSE HIS NAME- we use His name- YAHWEH, in VAIN. God says, ““What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips?” If your heart and your mouth are INCONGRUENT, either OPEN your HEART, or SHUT your MOUTH! It is in verse 20, the latter half, that God truly spoke to me, how about you? You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. (v20b) God said to me, “WHY ARE YOU TRASH TALKING MY TREASURE”? God tells us we are His most prized possession. The Bible says that if God was a shepherd and had 100 sheep and one of them wandered away, he would leave the 99 and go find it because it is his greatest treasure. (Matthew 18:12) God’s word says that HIS CHOSEN, HIS GREATEST TREASURE is set apart, that is what HOLY means. We are called out of darkness to experience His marvelous light. WE ARE GOD’S GREATEST TREASURE! (1Peter 2:9-10) Energy follows thought. Our thoughts, create our focus and our focus, dictates our actions and our directions. When we realize the LOVE OF THE FATHER, then we VALUE ourselves like GOD VALUES US! GOD LOVES us so much, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever shall believe in Him, JESUS, shall not perish but have everlasting life! This is THE GOOD NEWS, HE is THE GOOD FATHER, and we are PRECIOUS IN HIS SIGHT! Today, REMEMBER who you are in JESUS and tell others how PRECIOUS they are to our ABBA, to YAHWEH!