Psalm 50:22-23 - June 3, 2009

Ps 50:22-23 "Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue: 23 He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God." NIV

Can you say wow!? What a warning to those who forget God. “Consider this… or I will tear you to pieces!!!” The scriptures do not get any more direct than that! This passage carries within it an ominous warning to those who would forget God. “Don’t do it!” Here we have one of Bible’s strongest statements of warning and potential judgment and let us look at the subject that is the center of this reminder, “Thanksgiving!”
James taught the church an important principle in James 1:16-17 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.” He reminds us that everything worth having that we enjoy in our lives has come from God! Job echoes this thought in Job 1:21 as he worshipfully declares, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." We began our lives with nothing. How foolish then it seems that we should boast in what we have achieved as if it were by our own strength. One might say “I inherited these things from my parents and not from God.” But if that is your reasoning then consider that you could have been born to a different family and where did your family receive its prosperity in the first place.
Once there was a great king who ruled over the nation of Babylon. His name was Nebuchadnezzar. In Da. 4:5 it is recorded that this king was boastful that his great riches and power were the fruit of his own efforts. In a dream he received a warning that called him, like in this psalm, to remember that all he possessed was the Lord’s doing not his. He rejected this caution and the prophetic confirmation that followed it. One short year later, not having learned from this dire warning, as he walks on his rooftop reveling in his own greatness a voice speaks and initiates judgment. Dan 4:32 “You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.” Imagine going from King to a beast like mental imbalance by the judgment of God to work humility in your heart!
The psalmist in Ps. 5o:22 gives us a strong caution reminding us of God’s readiness to punish the proud and give grace to the humble of offer thanksgiving to God in acknowledgment of all that He has done. Too many people live focused on the things that they haven’t gotten instead of living grateful for those things that they have received! The good news is that God will not only punish the ungrateful and unthankful; He will bless those who do acknowledge Him. Ps. 50:22 equally reminds us that those who live with a thankful heart prepare the way for God’s salvation. When we honor him with our thanksgiving, which demonstrates humility and dependence, we place ourselves before Him as beneficiaries of His gracious salvation. Thanksgiving is truly a token of humility and places honor upon God as the one that we look to as our source. It is a sign that we have rejected the temptation to praise ourselves for our accomplishments and an evidence of our acceptance of Him as provider and Lord. Today choose a thankful heart!