Plymothian

“The righteous will be glad when they are avenged, when they bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked” (Psalm58:10).  These statements of vengeful gleeseem a bit over the top!  I have difficulty squaring splashing joyfully about in my enemy’s blood with an appropriate Christian response to the world.  Yet these are traditionalimages of victory over one’s enemies – especially the national variety that threaten a whole people or the universal defeat of the powers and minions of Satan.  Besides our passage, Psalm68:21-23 offers a similar picture: “SurelyGod will crush the heads of his enemies … [he] willbring them from Bashan … that you may plunge your feet in the bloodof your foes, while the tongues of your dogs have their share.”

Consider as well the picture of the victorious Yahweh fresh from judgment on the nations:”Why are your garments red,” the narrator asks, “like those of one treading the winepress?”  Yahweh replies, “I have trodden the winepressalone, fromthe nations no-one was with me.  I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stainedallmy clothing” (Isa. 63:2-3) …

These are extreme images of the ultimate defeat of God’s enemies whose rampant evilhasmade the lifeof the righteous a hellon earth.  These incorrigible vipers are removed by God so that the intended order of creation can be restored.  Though the images are extreme, the joyin response to the restoration of God’s true order is real and ought not to be denigrated. (Wilson)

Psalm 58 

 For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam.^[b]

 ¹ Do you rulers indeed speak justly?
   Do you judge people with equity?
² No, in your heart you devise injustice,
   and your hands mete out violence on the earth.

 ³ Even from birth the wicked go astray;
   from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.
⁴ Their venom is like the venom of a snake,
   like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,
⁵ that will not heed the tune of the charmer,
   however skillful the enchanter may be.

 ⁶ Break the teeth in their mouths, O God;
   LORD, tear out the fangs of those lions!
⁷ Let them vanish like water that flows away;
   when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.
⁸ May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along,
   like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.

 ⁹ Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns—
   whether they be green or dry—the wicked will be swept away.^[c]
10 The righteous will be glad when they are avenged,
   when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked.
¹¹ Then people will say,
   “Surely the righteous still are rewarded;
   surely there is a God who judges the earth.”

Questions

1. How are the leaders acting unjustly?
2. What violent images are associated with the Lord’s justice?
3. How is such violence toward injustice justified?
4. What do you think of the way Osama Bin Laden was killed recently?
5. How did those who lost people on September 11th 2001 react to Osama Bin Laden’s death?

Going Deeper

How would you explain God’s violent actions in the Bible to someone who finds them hard to swallow?

Psalm 57 repeats the phrase “Be exalted, Oh God!”  I think that many Christians process this like a cheer for God akin to, “You go, God!”  I picture many spectators in a stadium cheering, “Glory to God!” In much the way that Manchester United Supporters sing, “Glory! Glory! Man United!”  It is an exaltation external to the self about an event that is happening elsewhere.  Psalm 57 does carry that kind of connotation.  However, God’s exaltation goes further than a cheer or a shout – it goes right through every fiber of the individual.

Yesterday at the Chapel a think tank was discussing why so many people see discipleship as something passive they receive from the church leadership, or as a program of study or a series of actions they do.  Discipleship is the process of becoming like Jesus.  This is so complete that many of our words fall short of how Christ is to be exalted in every aspect of my being.  Think this through.  Is God exalted in my prayers, my worship, my Bible reading?  We can imagine that?  Is Christ exalted in my eating patterns, my exercise,and my driving?  Is Christ exalted in the content of my work?  To describe what discipleship is,we invented the word ‘Christification’.  It is the complete Christification of the individual.  Nothing short of totality is worthy of God.  God must be exalted by virtue of who he is.  Either this will happen voluntarily – or a day will come when all things will bow the knee to Jesus and acknowledge that he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Psalm 57

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam.^[b] When he had fled from Saul into the cave.

 ¹ Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me,
   for in you I take refuge.
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings
   until the disaster has passed.

 ² I cry out to God Most High,
   to God, who vindicates me.
³ He sends from heaven and saves me,
   rebuking those who hotly pursue me—^[c]
   God sends forth his love and his faithfulness.

 ⁴ I am in the midst of lions;
   I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts—
men whose teeth are spears and arrows,
   whose tongues are sharp swords.

 ⁵ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
   let your glory be over all the earth.

 ⁶ They spread a net for my feet—
   I was bowed down in distress.
They dug a pit in my path—
   but they have fallen into it themselves.

 ⁷ My heart, O God, is steadfast,
   my heart is steadfast;
   I will sing and make music.
⁸ Awake, my soul!
   Awake, harp and lyre!
   I will awaken the dawn.

 ⁹ I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
   I will sing of you among the peoples.
¹⁰ For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
   your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

 ¹¹ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
   let your glory be over all the earth.

Questions

1. Which verse is repeated?
2. How could you restate the meaning of that verse in your own words?
3. What reaches the heavens and the skies?
4. If God fills and transcends all of creation, how is your life in harmony with his existence?
5. In what ways does God’s filling of all creation, and transcending it, bring comfort?

Going Deeper

The term Christification is out there on the web. Do a Google search.  Read how it is used by misguided gnostics and by some Christians looking for a refreshing new phrase.  How do you think the term helps and hinders discussion about discipleship?  How could people in the church engage in total discipleship?

In the 1989 Batman movie, Prince sings about trust as the Joker rides into Gotham in a big parade(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkRJQOITi-4 ).  He hands out free cash to the people of Gotham then The Joker asks the populace whether they trust Batman or him, since he is giving them the kind of party they have been looking for.  Twenty years later the point is still wellmade.  People trust their emotions rather than reason.  If people aren’t having a good time it colours their ability to trust.  They trust when theyfeel good.

In Psalm56 the psalmist is not having a good time.  In spite of thishis trust is stillin God.  How is this maintained.  The NIV ApplicationCommentary suggests three ways:

1. God’s word is a source of confidence for those beset by enemies.
2. The psalmist gains confidence when the enemies turn back.
3. We can be confident in the protective care of God when ‘we walk before God in the light of life (v. 13)’.

These ideas are much harder to own than to say.  In which areas are you strong?  How could you grow in trust?

Psalm56

 For the director of music. To the tune of “A Dove on Distant Oaks.” Of David. A miktam.^[b] When the Philistines had seized him in Gath.

 ¹ Be merciful to me, my God,
   for my enemies are in hot pursuit;
   all day long they press their attack.
² My adversaries pursue me all day long;
   in their pride many are attacking me.

 ³ When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
 ⁴ In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
   What can mere mortals do to me?

 ⁵ All day long they twist my words;
   all their schemes are for my ruin.
⁶ They conspire, they lurk,
   they watch my steps,
   hoping to take my life.
⁷ Because of their wickedness do not^[c] let them escape;
   in your anger, God, bring the nations down.

 ⁸ Record my misery;
   list my tears on your scroll^[d]—
   are they not in your record?
⁹ Then my enemies will turn back
   when I call for help.
   By this I will know that God is for me.

 ¹⁰ In God, whose word I praise,
   in the LORD, whose word I praise—
¹¹ in God I trust and am not afraid.
   What can man do to me?

 ¹² I am under vows to you, my God;
   I will present my thank offerings to you.
¹³ For you have delivered me from death
   and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
   in the light of life.

Questions

1. Where are the psalmist’s enemies?
2. What role do written words play in this psalm?
3. How does the psalmist walk before God?
4. Who do you trust? Why?
5. How can trust in God be developed in peaceful times so that it is strong in timesof trial

City life causes us to rub up close with other people.  City jobs often involve large workplaces with all the gossip and politics that entails.  City traffic can be stop and start with birds being flipped and F-Bombs being dropped.  It was little different in the time of the psalmists.  The psalmist longs to get away into the wilds and be alone with God.  A close friend in the city has betrayed him.  Someone who was a confidante has decided that they will be an adversary.  This is someone that the psalmist went to the temple with.  This is the equivalent of a best friend who you’d sit next to at church.

God however does not provide an escape from the city, but the psalmist trusts God to provide an escape within the city.  The solution is the working out of God’s justice.

Do you have a friend who seems to have turned on you?  Do you get weighed down by the responsibilities of urban and suburban life?  This psalm is for people like that.

Psalm 55

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil^[b] of David.

 ¹ Listen to my prayer, O God,
   do not ignore my plea;
 ² hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
 ³ because of what my enemy is saying,
   because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering on me
   and assail me in their anger.

 ⁴ My heart is in anguish within me;
   the terrors of death have fallen on me.
⁵ Fear and trembling have beset me;
   horror has overwhelmed me.
⁶ I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
   I would fly away and be at rest.
⁷ I would flee far away
   and stay in the desert;^[c]
8 I would hurry to my place of shelter,
   far from the tempest and storm.”

 ⁹ Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words,
   for I see violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰ Day and night they prowl about on its walls;
   malice and abuse are within it.
¹¹ Destructive forces are at work in the city;
   threats and lies never leave its streets.

 ¹² If an enemy were insulting me,
   I could endure it;
if a foe were rising against me,
   I could hide.
¹³ But it is you, a man like myself,
   my companion, my close friend,
¹⁴ with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
   at the house of God,
as we walked about
   among the worshipers.

 ¹⁵ Let death take my enemies by surprise;
   let them go down alive to the realm of the dead,
   for evil finds lodging among them.

 ¹⁶ As for me, I call to God,
   and the LORD saves me.
¹⁷ Evening, morning and noon
   I cry out in distress,
   and he hears my voice.
¹⁸ He rescues me unharmed
   from the battle waged against me,
   even though many oppose me.
¹⁹ God, who is enthroned from of old,
   who does not change—
he will hear them and humble them,
   because they have no fear of God.

 ²⁰ My companion attacks his friends;
   he violates his covenant.
²¹ His talk is smooth as butter,
   yet war is in his heart;
his words are more soothing than oil,
   yet they are drawn swords.

 ²² Cast your cares on the LORD
   and he will sustain you;
he will never let
   the righteous be shaken.
²³ But you, God, will bring down the wicked
   into the pit of decay;
the bloodthirsty and deceitful
   will not live out half their days.

   But as for me, I trust in you.

Questions

1. Why does the psalmist cry out to God?
2. How will God bring justice?
3. How are enemies within the city walls sometimes more bitter than enemies outside of them?
4. Do you have an enemy within the family, church or workplace?  Describe your relationship.
5. What kind of justice could you ask God for? How would mercy triumph over justice?

Going Deeper

Verse 22 says: “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you

•  What is the process of releasing fear and anxiety according to Philippians 4:

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 ⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

I saw Blue Valentine starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1120985/)  this week.  It is a story of a marriage destroying itself.  Both spouses work against each other.  One sees the alcoholism in the other and ‘can’t do this anymore’.  The other sees the loveless discontent in the other and is driven to despair.  In contrast I also saw Young Victoria with Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0962736/).  It is about the coming to power of Queen Victoria and her marriage to Prince Albert.  Victoria learns to work alongside her husband and eventually moves his desk into a room with hers so that they can work on matters of state side by side.  However, in some ways she has to sacrifice her ‘queen’ attitude to get there.

In Genesis woman was designed to be man’s helper or help meet.  She was created second from the side of man.  In other words she was man’s equal.  They were to work together.  It was not good for mankind to be alone and so mankind needed to become community.  Even though two become one at marriage, the one married couple has an allied relationship.  The allies are man, woman, and God.

This is modeled on God.  God is one, but the Godhead is three persons:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  God works as an ally with himself.  He does not need others because he gets lonely.  He has a perfect relationship within himself.

At the Fall a woman’s desire became ‘for her husband’.  Some think this means that she would want independence and rule over man in the domestic sphere.  However, because a woman has a basic desire to have children she would find herself disenfranchised.  Man ruling over woman in Genesis 3 can be seen as a bitter transformation of the harmonious alliance of Genesis 2.  However, God did not change his part in the alliance.

God is still our ally, our helper.  We are not equal partners. He blazes a trail and shows us the way that life should be lived.  He shows us how to be a helper or an ally.  In Blue Valentine their relationship crumbled because they demanded that the other person become their ally.  In Young Victoria they succeeded because each learned to sacrifice to become the best helper/ally for the other.

Marriage is sometimes very difficult.  We can get lost in what we do not have.  However, God is available in all his strength.  We look to him first and not our spouse.  He models self sacrifice on his side of the alliance.  When we were still ungrateful enemies, God died for us.  We model his love when we die to ourselves and become better allies.  Our reward then is from God.

Psalm 54

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil^[b] of David. When the Ziphites had gone to Saul and said, “Is not David hiding among us?”

 ¹ Save me, O God, by your name;
   vindicate me by your might.
² Hear my prayer, O God;
   listen to the words of my mouth.

 ³ Arrogant foes are attacking me;
   ruthless people are trying to kill me—
   people without regard for God.^[c]

 ⁴ Surely God is my help;
   the Lord is the one who sustains me.

 ⁵ Let evil recoil on those who slander me;
   in your faithfulness destroy them.

 ⁶ I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you;
   I will praise your name, LORD, for it is good.
⁷ You have delivered me from all my troubles,
   and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.

Questions

1. What two things does the psalmist want God to do?
2. How are those who attack the psalmist described?
3. How is God’s trail blazing role as a powerful ally emphasized?
4. How do you work with God as an ally?  What happens when you don’t?
5. How can this psalm be an encouragement for someone whose spouse has ceased to be their ally/helper?

Going Deeper

Watch Young Victoria.  How is Albert able to be a helper to Victoria?  How is Victoria able to become a helper to Albert?  What is Lord Melbourne’s view of God?  How is Queen Victoria’s view of God shown by her actions?

Blue Valentine is sexually and verbally explicit.  It is a harrowing account of dysfunction.  The sex and violence do not seem sexy or enticing but seedy and vulgar.  If you see Blue Valentine answer the following.  How does each spouse cease to be an ally?  What does each spouse demand of the other?  What does each spouse provide?  How could a relationship as dysfunctional as this be redeemed by forming an alliance with God?

“The fool says in his heart there is no God (Psalm 53:1).”  However, in North American culture, USA Today reported that atheists are the fastest growing religious affiliation.  They had risen to a reporting 16% of people from 8%.  That is 100% growth.  The decline of traditional Christianity is well documented.  How can we take seriously, then, a passage which in effect says, “Silly Atheists”.  Atheists come in a variety of sizes and colours.  We are not talking about those who ‘don’t know whether there is a God’, we are talking about those wh definitely believe that there is no God.  There are those like Hitchens and Dawkins who are atheists because they believe that explanations of the universe are satisfactory without ‘the God hypothesis’.  The alarming growth is the number of atheists who just think the idea of God is stupid – period.  These are mainly young people, under 30, who come to the death of a relative or an ingrowing fingernail and think, “Ouch!  This really hurts.  Either God is a sadist or he doesn’t exist.”  Or it’s the person who would have to give up a life of partying and irresponsibility for the desperately dull morality of Christianity or any other religion.

How did we get here?  What did we do?  How do we stop the slide?  I have my ideas.  What are yours?

Psalm 53

For the director of music. According to mahalath.^[b] A maskil^[c] of David.

 ¹ The fool says in his heart,
   “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their ways are vile;
   there is no one who does good.

 ² God looks down from heaven
   on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
   any who seek God.
³ Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt;
   there is no one who does good,
   not even one.

 ⁴Do all these evildoers know nothing?

   They devour my people as though eating bread;
   they never call on God.
⁵ But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
   where there was nothing to dread.
God scattered the bones of those who attacked you;
   you put them to shame, for God despised them.

 ⁶ Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
   When God restores his people,
   let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!

Questions

1. What does God look for?
2. What thoughts keep evildoers awake at night?
3. How are wisdom and folly contrasted in this ‘wisdom psalm’?
4. Why do fools today say there is no God?  How is it foolish?
5. How can we raise a generation that does not think faith in Jesus is foolish?

Going Deeper

Stalin was an atheist.  His paranoia was legendary.  How does his disquiet reflect Psalm 53?

What is your reaction to the fact that Stalin trained as a pastor and then had 10, 000, 000 Russians killed in the name of Communist atheism?

The word oil, it appears, was derived from the latin word for olive.  The oil of the olive was a major financial component of the ancient world.  Olive trees were valuable, especially when they bore much fruit.  Today olives are still a big component of the Mediterranean agricultural economy.  Many of the best olives in the world come from the coasts of The Great Sea.

Today oil wells generate a lot of revenue.  In the USA there have historically been a lot of small oil companies running local wells.  When the psalmist says that they are an olive tree, I think the parallel would be a strong oil well that produces good oil and a strong income.

Psalm 52

For the director of music. A maskil^[b] of David. When Doeg the Edomite had gone to Saul and told him: “David has gone to the house of Ahimelek.”

¹ Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero?
   Why do you boast all day long,
   you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?
² You who practice deceit,
   your tongue plots destruction;
   it is like a sharpened razor.
³ You love evil rather than good,
   falsehood rather than speaking the truth.^[c]
4 You love every harmful word,
   you deceitful tongue!

⁵ Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin:
   He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent;
   he will uproot you from the land of the living.
⁶ The righteous will see and fear;
   they will laugh at you, saying,
⁷ “Here now is the man
   who did not make God his stronghold
but trusted in his great wealth
   and grew strong by destroying others!”

⁸ But I am like an olive tree
   flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God’s unfailing love
   for ever and ever.
⁹ For what you have done I will always praise you
   in the presence of your faithful people.
And I will hope in your name,
   for your name is good.

Questions

1. What is the young hero boasting about?
2. What kind of strength does the foolish man trust in?
3. Accoring to the entry above, how might we understand olive trees?
4. How would you describe your finances?
5. How do people use their wealth as a source of power?

Arnold Schwarzenegger has brought new attention to high profile cheating.  The Eagle-Tribune asked, “Why do men cheat?”  However, they were challeneged because of the sexism in that headline.  Women are no longer powerless vassals who men push to misbehave (http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x1886878935/Why-do-men-and-may-we-add-women-cheat ). There are all kinds of reasons that women and men cheat on their spouses.  However, in David’s time Bathsheba was just having a bath on her roof under the king’s window and he got excited.  As king he could have her killed, her husband killed, or just make everyone’s life miserable.  David invoked his power and tried to plot a scheme which resulted in him being exposed by God’s prophet.

What Psalm 51 shows us is the route back from adultery and murder.  Even when a spouse like Shriver understandably turns down Arny’s tear drenched pleas for clemency, God is willing to accept a truly repentant sinner.  As far as I know Arny does not have the faith to write a psalm of repentance.  He would do well to read Psalm 51.

Before we get carried away saying, “Yeah Arny.  Go read Psalm 51, you jerk!”  Let’s remember that this psalm was a public hymn.  There have been times when I have turned to it to express my horror when I realise how my sin has affected God and those whom I love.

Psalm 51

 For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

 ¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
   according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
   blot out my transgressions.
² Wash away all my iniquity
   and cleanse me from my sin.

 ³ For I know my transgressions,
   and my sin is always before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
   and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
   and justified when you judge.
⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,
   sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
⁶ Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
   you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

 ⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
   wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
   let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins
   and blot out all my iniquity.

 ¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
   and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
   or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
   and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

 ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
   so that sinners will turn back to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
   you who are God my Savior,
   and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
¹⁵ Open my lips, Lord,
   and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
   you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is^[b] a broken spirit;
   a broken and contrite heart
   you, God, will not despise.

 ¹⁸ May it please you to prosper Zion,
   to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
   in burnt offerings offered whole;
   then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Questions

1. Find the story of David and Bathsheba in the Bible and read it.
2. According to the psalm who was his offence against?
3. What do you think Bathsheba’s role was in the affair?
4. What passions lead you to speak sinfully, think sinfully, or act sinfully?
5. How can we repent of passions that society just calls normal human behavior?

Judge Dredd was a character from the 2000 AD comic line (http://www.2000adonline.com/vault/series/dredd ), which I sometimes got to read growing up.  I preferred Dan Dare and his wars with The Mekon( http://www.dandare.com/) which were running in the same comic, but Judge Dredd was fascinating.  He had this complete assurance that he was the embodiment of justice.  In 1995 the movies postmodernised Judge Dredd and made him conflicted in his sense of justice.  At the beginning of the movie Sly Stallone, as Dredd, bellows ‘I am the Law’.  By the end he is not so sure.  No mortal really is going to uphold the law perfectly.  We break the codes laid down by God, society and even our own selves.  God is greater than the idea of Judge Dredd.  God is a fearsome being without equal, and without flaw.  The vision of righteous judgement in Psalm 50 is meant to be terrifying.  Sly Stallone on his motorbike doesn’t really cut it:

Maybe the new Judge Dredd movie will be better http://movies.ign.com/articles/108/1088683p1.html .

Psalm 50

A psalm of Asaph.

 ¹ The Mighty One, God, the LORD,
   speaks and summons the earth
   from the rising of the sun to where it sets.
² From Zion, perfect in beauty,
   God shines forth.
³ Our God comes
   and will not be silent;
a fire devours before him,
   and around him a tempest rages.
⁴ He summons the heavens above,
   and the earth, that he may judge his people:
⁵ “Gather to me this consecrated people,
   who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
⁶ And the heavens proclaim his righteousness,
   for he is a God of justice.^[a][b]

 ⁷ “Listen, my people, and I will speak;
   I will testify against you, Israel:
   I am God, your God.
⁸ I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices
   or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.
⁹ I have no need of a bull from your stall
   or of goats from your pens,
¹⁰ for every animal of the forest is mine,
   and the cattle on a thousand hills.
¹¹ I know every bird in the mountains,
   and the insects in the fields are mine.
¹² If I were hungry I would not tell you,
   for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
¹³ Do I eat the flesh of bulls
   or drink the blood of goats?

 ¹⁴ “Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
   fulfill your vows to the Most High,
¹⁵ and call on me in the day of trouble;
   I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

 ¹⁶But to the wicked person, God says:

   “What right have you to recite my laws
   or take my covenant on your lips?
¹⁷ You hate my instruction
   and cast my words behind you.
¹⁸ When you see a thief, you join with him;
   you throw in your lot with adulterers.
¹⁹ You use your mouth for evil
   and harness your tongue to deceit.
²⁰ You sit and testify against your brother
   and slander your own mother’s son.
²¹ When you did these things and I kept silent,
   you thought I was exactly^[c] like you.
But I now arraign you
   and set my accusations before you.

 ²² “Consider this, you who forget God,
   or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
²³ Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me,
   and to the blameless^[d] I will show my salvation.”

Questions

1. What surrounds God in this chapter?
2. How is the psalmist and agent of God’s justice?
3. How is God’s justice reconciled with God’s love?
4. How does the media present justice?
5. How are you a balanced agent of God’s justice?

The poor and the weak seem disadvantaged when compared with the rich and powerful. The rich and the powerful can seem immortal when they get landmarks and streets and buildings named after themselves. It is a joke at Moody Bible Institute that people will donate to buildings but it’s hard to get them to donate to the small things that will not carry their name. It seems to be a quest for immortality. However, Psalm 49 points out that ultimately the quest to honour ourselves and make our name last is pointless.

The poor have a sure reply to the tyranny of the rich: But God will redeem me.

Psalm 49
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 Hear this, all you peoples;
listen, all who live in this world,
2 both low and high,
rich and poor alike:
3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom;
the meditation of my heart will give you understanding.
4 I will turn my ear to a proverb;
with the harp I will expound my riddle:

5 Why should I fear when evil days come,
when wicked deceivers surround me—
6 those who trust in their wealth
and boast of their great riches?
7 No one can redeem the life of another
or give to God a ransom for them—
8 the ransom for a life is costly,
no payment is ever enough—
9 so that they should live on forever
and not see decay.
10 For all can see that the wise die,
that the foolish and the senseless also perish,
leaving their wealth to others.
11 Their tombs will remain their houses[b] forever,
their dwellings for endless generations,
though they had[c] named lands after themselves.

12 People, despite their wealth, do not endure;
they are like the beasts that perish.

13 This is the fate of those who trust in themselves,
and of their followers, who approve their sayings.[d]
14 They are like sheep and are destined to die;
death will be their shepherd
(but the upright will prevail over them in the morning).
Their forms will decay in the grave,
far from their princely mansions.
15 But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead;
he will surely take me to himself.
16 Do not be overawed when others grow rich,
when the splendor of their houses increases;
17 for they will take nothing with them when they die,
their splendor will not descend with them.
18 Though while they live they count themselves blessed—
and people praise you when you prosper—
19 they will join those who have gone before them,
who will never again see the light of life.

20 People who have wealth but lack understanding
are like the beasts that perish.

Questions

1. What kind of words does this psalm contain?
2. How are Ecclesiastes, Job and this psalm related?
3. How does this psalm reverse traditional thoughts of rich and poor?
4. How do you envy or get distracted by rich or powerful people?
5. How do you view death?