Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. We open today with Psalm 50, which is a strong rebuke against people who misunderstand God's heart. There were Israelites who viewed the sacrificial system as a trade-off for sinning, like a penalty you pay and then everything is fine again, like some kind of speeding ticket. But God says that's never been what this is about.
In verses 8 through 15, he basically says, I don't want your bulls and goats and birds. I want your heart. For some of them, this may have been very confusing. Like, then why did you spend so much time telling us about the sacrifices? They weren't paying attention. And because of that lack of attention, they missed the very details that would reveal God's heart to them. Instead, they just viewed him as greedy, as though he needed food to eat like all the pagan gods.
Meanwhile, their hearts are far from him. They're doing wicked things or approving of others who do wicked things or even just sitting by idly, complicit when sin is committed. God rebukes them for this. He wants them to remember him. And one way to do that is to bring him their gratitude and thanksgiving.
Psalm 53 is a lot like a psalm we've already covered, Psalm 14, so we won't spend too much time here, but I just want to point out one thing. This chapter is about the fool, the person who dismisses God and does his own thing. When that's how a person operates, removed from the understanding of God's sovereignty and goodness, it becomes easy to think you're in control of your own future.
And if you're in charge, then lots of things can go wrong. And if lots of things can go wrong, then that can lead to a lot of fear and striving. Verse five points to this. It says, But God says there's a way out for a person like this.
The way of salvation and trusting God's goodness prompts rejoicing and gladness instead of fear and folly. It's counterintuitive, but surrender is actually the path to freedom. The one task the human will can never be fatigued by is surrender. In Psalm 60, David writes about feeling like God is angry and that he has rejected Israel. He uses a metaphor we'll see throughout Scripture, and it even shows up in our next psalm as well.
He compares God's wrath to a cup of wine. In verse 3, he says, "You have given us wine to drink that made us stagger," which basically translates to, "This is some really intense wrath." But then God responds to David and reminds him, "I love Israel. You're mine, and I'm powerful and sovereign over your enemies, our enemies, and I will defeat them." David's still a little nervous, but he ultimately puts his trust in God.
I really think he's just exhausted here. But he knows the truth deep down. Because back in verse 5, he referred to Israel as God's beloved, despite their affliction. He knows who they are to God. He just doesn't see it at the moment. So he talks to God about it. God sets his heart on straight, and he feels some emotional relief from it. Doesn't this approach sound a lot better than the downward spiral of despair and fear and anger that we usually venture into? I think so too.
Today's final chapter, Psalm 75, opens with an interesting note at the top from Asaph the writer. It says this psalm is written according to Do Not Destroy. Some people think that this is a name of a well-known melody, like if it were to say, to the tune of Happy Birthday, while others think this phrase is literally a command, like, hey, choir master, when you see this scroll, don't put it in the shredder. This is some of my best work.
It's a psalm of corporate praise, thanking God for his past provision and even prophesying about future protection. In verse 4, Asaph tells the wicked not to lift up their horns, but this isn't referencing a musical instrument. In scripture, the image of a horn represents strength and power and victory, kind of like how the horn of an animal is their strength. So for someone to lift up their horn would be an attempt, and probably an arrogant one, to demonstrate their own power.
There are lots of verses where God is referred to as our horn, specifically the horn of our salvation.
And on a related note, sometimes in the prophetic books of Scripture, we'll see images of beasts with multiple horns. So in that instance, Scripture is probably referring to some kind of coalition with multiple powerful kings or kingdoms, each represented by a horn. All that to say, the horn itself is neither good nor bad. That is determined by who has the horn.
So Asaph tells the wicked not to lift up their horns. Basically, he's saying, humble yourselves. You're not going to dominate here because he knows God is working out justice and judgment. In verse 8, he makes a reference to wine, which, as we just learned, represents God's wrath. He says, In the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.
He's saying the wicked will fully know and experience God's wrath. Because as he mentioned in verse 7 right before this, God executes judgment. And according to Asaph, this is a great reason to celebrate. The wicked will be cut off, the righteous will live, and God is a just God who can be trusted and praised. What was your God shot today? Mine was in our first chapter, Psalm 50.
Verses 22-23 say, Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart and there shall be none to deliver. The one who offers thanksgiving as a sacrifice glorifies me. To the one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God.
In this passage, I first noticed that God wants to be remembered. We've seen that a lot. That's nothing new. But this hit me at a different angle. It seems that remembering God is directly connected to our gratitude and thanksgiving.
He wants to be the place where our Thanksgiving is focused. Not just a general, oh, that was a good meal, but more of a, how brilliant and generous is God that he gave us taste buds? He didn't have to do that. Food could have just been a source of sustenance. He didn't have to make it taste good. He's so nice.
Technically, gratitude only functions as an act of remembrance. You can't be grateful for something that hasn't happened yet. You can maybe be grateful for the promise of it, but gratitude primarily happens in response to things that have happened already or that are happening. So this connects us to God in our history and our present. But the arms of gratitude reach toward the future as well, toward obedience. Our gratitude for what He's done in the past compels us to obey Him in the future, and
When we express gratitude to God, it knits our hearts to Him, and it prompts us to be much more likely to walk closely with Him. I want to get closer all the time. I want to be more grateful to Him all the time. He's where the joy is.
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