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Psalm 50 reads as follows in the New American Bible: 1 The God of gods, the LORD, has spoken and summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. 2 FromZion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. 3 Our God comes and will not be silent! Devouring fire precedes him, it rages strongly around him. 4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth to judge his people: 5"Gather my loyal ones to me, those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice." 6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness, for God himself is the judge. 7"Listen, my people, I will speak; Israel, I will testify against you; God, your God, am I. 8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you, your burnt offerings are always before me. 9 I will not take a bullock from your house, or he-goats from your folds. 10 For every animal of the forest is mine, beasts by the thousands on my mountains. 11 I know every bird in the heights; whatever moves in the wild is mine. 12 Were I hungry, I would not tell you, for mine is the world and all that fills it. 13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of he-goats? 14 Offer praise as your sacrifice to God; fulfill your vows to the Most High. 15 Then call on me on the day of distress; I will rescue you, and you shall honor me." 16 But to the wicked God says: "Why do you recite my commandments and profess my covenant with your mouth? 17 You hate discipline; you cast my words behind you! 18 If you see a thief, you run with him; with adulterers you throw in your lot. 19 You give your mouth free rein for evil; you yoke your tongue to deceit. 20 You sit and speak against your brother, slandering your mother's son. 21 When you do these things should I be silent? Do you think that I am like you? I accuse you, I lay out the matter before your eyes. 22"Now understand this, you who forget God, lest I start ripping apart and there be no rescuer. 23 Those who offer praise as a sacrifice honor me; I will let him whose way is steadfast look upon the salvation of God." This is an important psalm as it doubles up on and makes clear that if there is a bridge to traverse to get into direct communication with the Lord, it has nothing to do with " peace offerings of the like" that can be traditionally seen as buffers or an initial go between Just as the Lord knows the birds, knows everyone and everything and owns all the cattle on the hill, he always knows every kind of trouble and distress, any type of storms that can form, and has an answer and recourse for every kind of trouble and distress that could ever be fathomed and while seeking the Lord realize any trouble of any type is ecnompassed in the verse mentioning the day of distress or troouble mentioned in verse 16.. The other important aspect of this psalm is its somewhat blunt tone, which doesn't drape with holiness and sugar coating what is being said. There is a point blank aspect to this, which could possibility be seen as an invitation to debate with the Lord as one way of prayer, but more so it cuts to the chase and points to the direct route to adhere to right from the get go. The argument is taking full tilt, in that the material sacrifices to the Lord don't merit anything and even if mucho more could be added in, it will not make a difference as the Lord owns all the cattle on the hill to start with and giving the material amounts to a give back of what he already owns. Those seeking the Lord to whom this psalm is addressed to were right to seek a bridge, but they picked the wrong bridge and overall this psalm is seen as corrective. This is echoed in Isaiah Chapter 64 in even more forceful language. Bridges and what they might traverse are often wondrous, beautiful, mysterious and tenuous. And that can describe some of the conditions that we are facing in our lives, there can be a lot of good but also a lot to traverse carefully. There can often be vast treacherous waterways which bridges traverse and even what is found on the other side it draped in mystery as one maybe appropriates into the depths of nature and a bit away from modern accouterments. Often this bridge, that bridge is the only way across the canyon and that is about all she wrote. That praise is the bridge is doubly reinforced here in this psalm. Praise being closed akin to thanksgiving. If I am rich or not, the tendency is if I don't have access to the material, the next thing to look at is being in the known. Even that is refuted here as a means of getting to the Lord. It doesn't matter who you know, that isn't going to get you the bridge to the Lord. The Lord knows every bird, every person, every nook and cranny and recoiling into the idea that there is some know it all who can help is an idea but that is not the bridge. This psalm is sometimes used to bring in a little bit of prosperity preaching, that indeed the Lord has ownership of everything, all the cattle of the hill and maybe he will cast a favorable eye get you a nice piece of pie While that can be possible, the point of view is more so that the approach to the Lord should be made with an understanding that his ownership is comprehensive and his knowing is comprehensive and that bases are already covered and the view across is not found through any exploration that involves things like wealth, riches, being in the know as far as who you know and so on. The way to view this, is that you are talking to the owner of everything and every aspect of everything but at the same time, and there is no place else to go and from the point of view of prayer and relationship the Lord wants you to view things this way, that there Is no other recourse, no cry to the wilds, no other arbiter, and not to make the mistake that all the draping and window dressing of society are going to ever represent recourse. To think you can give the Lord anything else other than praise and thanksgiving is going off course and missing your personal bridge and at the same time calling upon him as the recourse to all, the day of trouble mentioned in this psalm is representative of any moment time, form, or significance of trouble and for some every day could be a day of trouble. While ultimately there is no other ownership out there, you can't buy your way into the ownership either. There is sense of status At the same time however what ever the Lord might give you, doesn't bring you to another bridge, or give you any slant towards an advantage going forward. They Lord may gift you many and varied gifts, but if you are coming back the route back is praise. This time, next time and all the time the bridge will be praise. Then the question is what exactly is praise? It would of course include specifically praising the Lord but it might also include song, being present and attentive to the Lord in the depths of meditation and an overall stance of turning to the Lord. But the focus goes right to praise, you go right to the bridge and don't look to traverse any other way, there is no need to be distracted by other considerations that you think matter, in terms of consulting with the Lord, as this psalm is saying these other things, are not even secondary, indeed that don't even rate or consider as route. The psalmist David would praise the Lord with the harp so praise can be a matter of song. The walk of praise and crossing that bridge leads to and extends to relationship and this can include specifically asking as it says in verse. You can always check and recheck using this psalm as a basis. If any form of trouble is arising, the route to go is to the Lord, keying across the bridge with praise and thanksgiving, and always keeping the view that the Lord is your recourse and never bending from that view. The day of trouble indicates that you don't have to always live in or really hide in the shadows; you can go out in the day, seek good things and live a bit. So this is invitational as well and there is no reason to sit still, the Lord will help you on the run and you can call upon and seek the Lord in the midst of activities and pursuits represented by being in the day, in the light and out of the shadows of darkness. If indeed you choose go on and proceed with the day, there might be encounters with some difficulties, struggles, uncertainties, but the Lord will journey there with you as you praise and thank him and call upon him not only in the darkness of night, in the shadows of loss, but in the goodness of the day and light, where there is a lot of good, but some real risks, some real chances, some real trouble, for which the relationship of prayer and praise with the Lord is to be seen as the recourse as the bridge always there, always seen and always ready to be traveled across to the personal goodness of the Lord for you.
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