Today’s reading is Psalm 50.
The introduction of this psalm sounds like the people of Israel talking about how great their God is. He shines forth from Zion in beauty. He doesn’t keep silent. In fact, a possible translation of vs. 3 is “May our God come, and not keep silence.” This is very similar to another psalm of Asaph. In Psalm 83:1-2, he writes, “O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God! For behold, your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads.” In that latter psalm, the nations are against Israel so Israel asks God to break His silence and judge the nations. It almost seems like that is what Israel expects at the beginning of Psalm 50. However, the direction of the psalm takes a screeching left turn in vs. 4. He isn’t coming to judge the nations. He is coming to judge His own people.
Israel was so busy looking at all the sins of the nations, they missed their own. They seemed to have the idea that because they were in covenant with God and were keeping up with their sacrifices, they were doing fine. God had silently watched their sins. But now He was breaking His silence. It was not to rebuke Assyria, Syria, Edom, Moab, Babylon, or Egypt. It was to rebuke Israel. “Now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.”
If we are not careful, we will wind up in the same boat. It is easy to think that because we were baptized and we are keeping up with our “church attendance,” we are better than all those “awful sinners” in the world. “Boy, I wish God would come and do something about them.” Like Israel, we need to spend more time looking in the mirror than in the microscope. If we are going to repent and set our lives in order, hastening the coming day of the Lord, we need to start with ourselves. Sure, there is place for correcting sin, calling others to repent, pulling specks (even logs) out of the eyes of others, but lets start with ourselves. We need it most.
Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 50.
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Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family
- What are your initial reactions to the psalm and the written devo above?
- Why is it easier to look at the microscope at others’ sins than in the mirror at ours?
- What advice would you give to help us all look in the mirror?
- Once we have seen our own sins in the mirror, what do we need to do next?
- What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this psalm and our discussion today?
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