Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study of Psalm 50 (March 12, 2026)

March 12, 2026:  Thursday Bible Study on Psalm 50

May our Lord's Grace and Peace be with you this morning.

Our lives are always filled with more than enough to do. As we age, less to do often seems like it is more to do and takes longer to get it done. That is especially true in our home because we have six "adults" who are still taking on learning to do their own laundry, cooking some meals, tidying up their rooms, and helping with other regular duties of having a home to live in. Still, laundry, cooking a daily main meal, and doing house care fall to Mom. I will say that the "boys" are getting more helpful as time goes by. I guess free rent is quite an incentive. Please note that I will be away from the office for the week as our adult children will be home from school, and in one case, from work. I will be in the office on Wednesday, March 18, next week preparing for the noon mid-day worship service. I hope that I will get to see you there, and then again on Sunday, the 21st of March. (Of course, I look forward to being with you on the 15th of March for Sunday worship too.)  Please remember that the services are recorded for viewing on both mid-week and Sunday services. They are generally available within an hour or so, just go to godsplaceforgrace.org to find the link to the recordings.

Just this week the pain of increasing expenses for food, gas, and seemingly, every other thing too, has it home, so we may have to work to maintain ourselves in this tight economic time. Whether we agree about the causes that are creating this larger living expense in our lives, we are all in the very same boat. Everything cost more. Of course, that means that there is always a temptation to reduce our giving for the work of the Gospel of Jesus Christ at American. In our home it means really cutting back on driving the two cars that don't get the greatest mileage, and driving the little one, as tight as it is, which gets double the mileage of our larger cars. But our commitment to our giving for the work of the Gospel at American will not be reduced. I hope that you too can find ways to give with the continuing generosity of your resources for the work of the Gospel at American and remember the special offering during Lent for the Community Food Bank.

This is all very timely when we read the 50th Psalm. We need to note up front that this is not a person trying to speak in God's place, but it is the Word of God Himself, which is upheld in the music setting of worship. The Psalm begins with a reclaiming by God of the power of who He is. He is the Creator of all things! I think that His purpose in doing this is to remind people that He is the Only God, and, not in so many words in this part, always deserving of honor and respect.

Next God reminds His people, starting in verse 7, that though we might think that God has need of what we have. That is just not true. God doesn't want offerings of the animals and produce of the land, He made it all, and it is His! He doesn't need the sacrifices on the Altar, neither animal nor grain offerings, because he can have all that he wants already from anywhere in creation. This whole Psalm really places the sacrifices that were so common on a different level. These are not the sacrifices which God desires. And it seems to be where most people, including the religious authorities, find themselves, following the letter of the Law of Moses, doing all of the required things in worship, and then walking away from the Sabbath celebrations, and returning to doing all of the things which disappoint and anger God because the earlier worshipers did not really have a care for anything but the completing the necessary forms in the worship setting.  I hope that you can see this playing out in our own congregation. In Lent we have started using Psalm 51, singing it as our confession. I suspect that this may make some members who historically preferred traditional confession at worship because they feel that doing something new and different breaks in on them as being inappropriate and uncomfortable, making them feel like they would like to return to tradition for confession. As we get into the next section of the Psalm, we should discover that it is not the form of worship, either traditional or new, that is important. What is important is that we come filled with a heart of gratitude and joy for being loved by God so greatly that He gave His Son as a sacrifice for our eternal benefit. And the giving that I spoke about earlier is not about being the biggest giver, or the best tither in the congregation, it is instead about giving with thanksgiving in our hearts for the Lord's sacrifice and abundant love for us.

That brings us to the final section starting with verse 16. Here, His own Words, God indicates that He indeed wonders what faithless, uncaring people, are doing going through all the world required steps in worship, when they truly have no intent to working on behalf of God's Light and Grace when they leave worship. They will not receive rescue by God when their times are getting too tough. I especially like verse 21. It tells us once again about the nature of God, and far too often shallow nature of people. It says from God, "Do not think that I am like you!"  Here nearing the end of the Psalm God once again lets everyone know, that He is the Great I Am! We can only know God as He chooses to reveal himself to His people, the faithful ones.

In verse 24 we discover that our offerings to God most not be out of attempted manipulation to get what we want but must be offerings of thanks for all that God has done, and for who God is. These are the offerings in which our LORD rejoices! But it is not just offerings of resources, this is meant for all people who live their lives devoted to the God of Heaven and Earth, acknowledging His great Love for all people, and guiding our lives every day. We too must give thanks for our God who is everything to us, Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier of Life. I must tell you that I sense this quite often in people who have reached an age that younger people think will never come to them. When aging draws us closer to eternal life every day, we can know joy in our old age, because we have lived surrounded by our Savior's constant Love and companionship. In this Psalm God promises deliverance for everyone who lives in this way. For you and me, that simply means that we are saved and always preparing for That Day on which we will be with our Savior in Heaven.

Please remember to sign up for giving Easter Lily plants for the Altar memorial garden that will be in place for Easter Sunday at Worship. Bible Studies will start again on March 22.

In the Love of Christ, Pastor Kim