Image from Bible Picture Gallery

Continuing on our journey of true praise and worship, today we’re going to take a look at Psalm 50. This Psalm was an address from God to Israel about their worship, and it is a sobering reminder to us, as well.

In verses 1-6, we are given a description of God as He addresses His people.

1 The Mighty One, God, the LORD, has spoken,
And summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God has shone forth.
3 May our God come and not keep silence;
Fire devours before Him,
And it is very tempestuous around Him.
4 He summons the heavens above,
And the earth, to judge His people:
5 “Gather My godly ones to Me,
Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
6 And the heavens declare His righteousness,
For God Himself is judge. Selah.

Notice how God is described in verse one – He is “The Mighty One, God, the LORD.” The first two terms are rather generic terms for God used in the Old Testament. The third, however, is God’s covenant name with His people – Yahweh. It is the name by which He introduced Himself in Exodus. It is the name by which Israel “cut covenant” (the literal meaning of “made a covenant” in verse 5) with.

These verses in Psalm 50:1-6 would have sounded familiar to Israel’s ears. God is reminding them of their solemn covenant they made with Him at Mount Sinai.

Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.
When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder.
The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
(Exodus 19:18-20)

Talk about the fear of God! This event at Mount Sinai was awesome, in the truest sense of the word, and God is reminding them of this solemn covenant as He comes to judge His people. This should get our attention! So, what is He addressing them about?

The remainder of this Psalm falls into two addresses to two different groups.

7″Hear, O My people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you;
I am God, your God.
8″I do not reprove you for your sacrifices,
And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.
9″I shall take no young bull out of your house
Nor male goats out of your folds.
10″For every beast of the forest is Mine,
The cattle on a thousand hills.
11″I know every bird of the mountains,
And everything that moves in the field is [a]Mine.
12″If I were hungry I would not tell you,
For the world is Mine, and all it contains.
13″Shall I eat the flesh of bulls
Or drink the blood of male goats?
14″Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving
And pay your vows to the Most High;
15Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”

First of all, notice that in verse 7, God again calls Himself by a generic name for God and then adds “your God.” He is entitled to pure worship by both His existence as the only true God, and also by His covenant relationship to His people.

This first address is to His outwardly obedient people. In fact, at first blush this might look like a commendation. However, look at the wording – verse 4 says that He is coming to judge His people, verse 7 says He is testifying against them, and verse 8 points out what He is not reproving them for. So, what is the issue?

I like how Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown’s commentary talks about this passage:

“However scrupulous in external worship, it was offered as if they conferred an obligation in giving God His own, and with a degrading view of Him as needing it. Reproving them for such foolish and blasphemous notions, He teaches them to offer, or literally, “sacrifice,” thanksgiving, and pay, or perform, their vows–that is, to bring, with the external symbolical service, the homage of the heart, and faith, penitence, and love.”

The external worship expressions of sacrifice were symbolic of what should have been happening internally. David strikes upon this fact in Psalm 51:16-17 -

For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

External obedience must be in accordance with an internal reality.

We could be right on when it comes to our outward worship – we could have the best “worship service” in the world and say all the right pious sounding things about God; but, if our hearts are not truly bringing a sacrifice of thanksgiving, if our external worship is not line with an inward reality, we are missing the boat!

Now, onto the second group addressed in Psalm 50:

16But to the wicked God says,
“What right have you to tell of My statutes
And to take My covenant in your mouth?
17″For you hate discipline,
And you cast My words behind you.
18″When you see a thief, you are pleased with him,
And you associate with adulterers.
19″You let your mouth loose in evil
And your tongue frames deceit.
20″You sit and speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother’s son.
21″These things you have done and I kept silence;
You thought that I was just like you;
I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.

This section is just chilling to me. Notice that these wicked people God is addressing “tell of [His] statutes and take [His] covenant into [their] mouths!” These people have all the right words! And yet, their lives are far from lining up with their pious words. In fact, the examples given show that they are living in flagrant violation of the 7th, 8th, and 9th commandment! They are associating with adulterers (7), they are stealing (8), and they are lying (9)!

Now, the most haunting part of this address to me is verse 21 – because God had kept silent and not directly called them on their sin, they thought He was just like them!

Considering this Psalm brings to mind for me the letters to the 7 churches in Revelations. The church at Ephesus is commended for their deeds, but reprimanded for leaving their first love. To the church at Sardis God said, “I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” The church at Laodicea was described as unuseful to God – they were lukewarm and He wanted to spit them out!

Have we clung to our first love? Are we truly alive and growing spiritually? Are we useful to our King? Does our internal reality match up with the external acts of worship we present before our Maker and Savior?

This weekend we were with my family. We’ve been talking for the couple of months about starting a tradition of having a seder dinner together, which has been very exciting to me!

Now, I must say… the first annual family seder was not exactly “traditional.” We’re starting small while we figure out what we’re doing and while the kids are little. We decided that the theme of our seder must be “we’re not under the law.” Why? Well, let’s see…

Here’s the plate of bacon that we put into our twice-baked potatoes…

And while this is probably not a traditionally Jewish touch, we had a lamb made out of butter (there are advantages to celebrating Easter the week after – you can get exciting things like this on clearance).

However, this did get weird when it came time to actually use the butter.

Here is our lamb cake we had for dessert, complete with a nutty bar cross.

So, as you might have guessed, our “seder” really did not resemble a traditional seder at all! [Although we did have a plate of Matzos.] But, we did have some great discussions about the pictures of Christ in the seder dinner, and the importance of the feast days in the life of Christ.

Was this as meaningful as we could have made it? No. It’s a work in progress. It’s not an easy thing to create a meaningful family tradition that is this involved, but I think it is worth the effort! Next year we hope to do this a little more “traditionally,” as the kids get older and as the adults get our act together! However, we have all agreed that the nutty bars are a must in future seders (affectionately referred to as “notsa matzoh”), and that the butter lamb was a nice touch that should be repeated. :)

Would you like to learn more about the Passover and the other feasts of Israel? Just leave a comment on this post and on Friday one commenter will win these two informative booklets from Zola Levitt – “The Miracle of Passover,” and “The Seven Feasts of Israel.”

This morning at my parents’ church, Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Pastor Samra was continuing an excellent series on the 10 Commandments. The whole church has been learning these hand signs to help remember the 10 Commandments – I have seen these before but couldn’t remember how to do them! These are great to teach your kids, as well! Hope you find them to be useful!

Update:
I know those are hard to read. This is what we do:

1. God first – one finger pointing to Him

2. No idols – cross your index fingers into an “x” for “no,” then have one finger bow to the other for “idols”

3. Don’t misuse God’s name – cover your mouth with three fingers

4. Worship and rest – hold your fingers together and point them up to God for “worship,” then put them under your head like a pillow for “rest”

5. Honor your father and mother (we do this different)- the sign language sign for mother and father work well for this – spread your five fingers apart and place your thumb on your forehead for father, then on your chin for mother

6. No murder – hold out the five fingers on your left hand (like you’re saying “stop”) for “no,” then point your right thumb into your chest like a knife for “murder”

7. No adultery – Again, the five fingers on your left for “no,” then cross your index and middle fingers on your right hand for “adultery.” (we explain this by saying, “A mommy and daddy have to stay together forever.”)

8. No stealing – four fingers on each hand in front of you, then we quickly close them into fists like we’re grabbing something away

9. Don’t tell lies – Five fingers on your left hand for “no,” then cover your mouth with four fingers on your right hand

10. Don’t covet – make “binoculars” with your hands and look through them

I’ve been using these for several months now with my 3 year old – she really does remember them and we talk through what each commandment means as we go!

**Sarah Mae taught her kids the 10 commandments using the tune of “Doe-re-mi” from Sound of Music!

This is the first of many (I hope) “Saturday Spotlights” here at Run the Earth, Watch the Sky. This is my way of saying “thank you” to those of you who are loyal readers, commenters, and friends – both online and in person! If you are a faithful reader and commenter, perhaps you will be contacted about being our Saturday Spotlight for an upcoming week! :)

This week we’re talking to Courtney from Women Living Well! Courtney and I met through a mutual friend (well, in a complicated way my friend is related to Courtney, but I still don’t have that straight) and it has been a pleasure to get to know her through our blogs!

Tell us about yourself in 3 sentences or less!
I have been married to my high school sweet heart for 11 ½ years. I am a mommy of two who will begin homeschooling my 6 and 4 year old next year. I am a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute and I LOVE Jesus and want to share him with everyone I know and even people I don’t know!

Flashback: you’re a senior in high school and you’re wearing your favorite outfit today. Describe your “look.”
Okay – it’s really hard to remember this far back!!!! I liked purple to match my purple eye shadow and on my first date with my husband I wore a purple silk shirt with black dress pants. But the most important part of my “look” was my curled hair. I slept in curlers every night and then fluffed and sprayed aqua net all over my hair – I had a beautiful helmet!

What is your favorite “fun” thing to do?
Facebook doesn’t count right? Then I’ll say – go to the beach with my husband and a good book!

What is your most dreaded household task and why?
Ironing – I am not very good at it. I have a very close friend (Kelly) who is great at it and recently she gave me some “ironing lessons”. Thanks to her and my new Shark iron I am finally beginning to enjoy this task.

What is your favorite thing to do with your kids?
I LOVE singing songs with them. I love to hear their little voices singing to Jesus and we have the most fun in the car when I crank the music up and we just sing to our hearts delight! They are great little singers! I love telling them stories about Jesus and answering their questions and I enjoy reading books with them.

You have babysitting for the whole day on a Saturday – what will you and your husband do?
We would buy tickets to an Ohio State Football Game and head to Columbus for a day of shopping and cheering on the Bucks!

What are three other blogs that you enjoy reading?
Yours of course!!!
www.girltalk.blogs.com
www.desiringgod.org/blog
http://www.titus2atthewell.com/

How long have you been blogging, and what motivated you to start blogging?
I’ve been blogging since August of 2008 and my number one fan has been my husband. He has been my motivator and I run everything by him. He has listened and listened and listened to me talk about this site. Daily he asks me about what is happening on the site. He truly cares and encourages me – I am so grateful for his support.

What five words would you use to describe your blog?
Passionate, Encouraging, God-centered, Transparent, Living Well (Jesus is our living well – and when we walk with Him we will live well as we serve him with our mind – body and spirit)

Freebie: anything about yourself or your blog that you want to share!
Blogging can be a lot of work – but for me I enjoy it so much it feels like play! Thomas Edison once said “I never worked a day in my life, it was all play.” That’s how I view serving God, serving my husband, homemaking, and child rearing. I want to keep the joy of the Lord alive in my life – so I can take pleasure in my duties rather than seeing life as one big drudgery. I take my responsibilities seriously but I don’t take myself too seriously – I know I am very flawed! So come enjoy life with me as I attempt to live well with joy to the glory of God!

Thanks, Courtney! Now, head on over to her site and say hi! :)