Today’s scripture: Psalm 50:1-6 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Tyler Connoley):
This Psalm presents God as a judge sitting in a courtroom. When this text was written, kings were the people who judged in civil cases, and that’s how we’re meant to picture this scene. God is a furious, raging king telling people what he wants and how it’s going to be.
Often, when we think of God as a king, we think of something like this Pepsi commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcf01QTcO6EGod in this image is a petty ruler who makes us dance for his pleasure. If we don’t do the dance well, or don’t meet his silly ideas of what’s good and bad, then he pulls a lever and shoots us off to eternal punishment. So, fearing God’s wrath, we meekly dance our scared little dances, much like the frightened man at the beginning of that video.
But that’s not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is most fierce when protecting the innocent and avenging the oppressed. In the scene above, God is best represented not by the vacuous king on his throne, but by the fierce woman singing RESPECT at the top of her lungs — and meaning respect for all.
In fact, this is how God is actually represented in Psalm 50. “Before God is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around,” and the tempest and the devouring fire are for anyone who would dare oppress and hurt other people. Later in the Psalm, God speaks directly to those like the king in our Pepsi video, people who have imagined that God is on their side because they have the power and the money and the will to oppress.
In verses 16-20, God lists some of the ways we use our power to hurt others, and then God says, “These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one just like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.”
Thought for the day: Be careful how you treat people, because God is a fierce woman in a blue dress singing RESPECT, shattering our stained glass windows, and demanding “Pepsi for all!”
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.