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Psalm 50 | King James Audio Bible
YouTube | Psalm 50 | KJV | Word Aloud | King James Audio Bible
Psalm 50 is a profound exploration of God’s authority, the meaning of true worship, and the imperative of righteous living. The psalm condemns empty rituals and hypocrisy while calling for genuine, heart-centred relationship with God. The psalm balances warnings of judgment with the promise of deliverance and salvation for those who seek God with sincerity and integrity.
The psalm issues a divine summons, proclaiming the Almighty God who calls the Earth from sunrise to sunset to hear His message. The psalm declares God’s power and beauty, emphasizing His radiant presence in Zion.
Imagery employed is striking—God is depicted as a mighty, consuming force, a tempestuous fire, and a divine judge. This portrayal underscores the awe-inspiring nature of the Creator and the magnitude of God’s authority over all creation.
As the psalm unfolds, it addresses a common human tendency: belief that religious rituals and sacrifices alone are sufficient to please God. God challenges this misconception, asserting that He is not in need of material offerings, for the entire world belongs to Him, and all creatures are under His dominion.
The psalmist makes it clear that God’s true desire is not for external rituals but for heartfelt worship and a life of righteousness. God calls for a gathering of His saints, those who have entered into a covenant with Him through sacrifice. God desires a genuine relationship marked by thanksgiving and vows fulfilled.
The psalm serves as a stern rebuke to the wicked, those who pay lip service to God’s statutes while living in defiance of His commandments. The psalm condemns hypocrisy, dishonesty, and slander, laying bare the hollowness of outward displays divorced from a life of integrity.
In its final verses, Psalm 50 warns those who forget God and persist in unrighteousness. The psalm cautions that God will not remain silent forever but will ultimately bring judgment and justice.
Yet, amidst this warning, the psalm extends an invitation to true repentance. It underscores that those who offer praise to God and order their lives in alignment with His ways will experience deliverance and salvation.
Psalm 49 | King James Audio Bible KJV | Love Revealed By Jesus Christ
The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.
Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.
Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.
These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God
Key Themes Of The Psalm For Reflection | Love Revealed By Jesus Christ
- God’s Authority and Power: The psalm begins by emphasizing God’s authority and power. He is depicted as the ‘mighty God’ who calls the entire Earth from sunrise to sunset, signifying God’s dominion over all creation. This theme underscores the sovereign rule of God over the world.
- Futility of Empty Rituals: A prominent theme in this psalm is the futility of empty religious rituals and sacrifices. God makes it clear that He does not require material offerings like burnt sacrifices or offerings of animals. Instead, God seeks a deeper, more meaningful form of worship that emanates from the heart.
- Genuine Worship and Righteousness: Psalm 50 calls for genuine worship and righteousness. The psalm highlights the stark contrast between external religious observance and a heart genuinely aligned with God’s will. The essence of true worship is presented as a heartfelt relationship with God.
- Covenant Relationship: God desires a covenant relationship with His people. He calls for a gathering of His saints, those who have made a covenant with Him through sacrifice. This theme underscores the importance of entering into a committed and sincere relationship with God, rather than relying on mere rituals.
- Rebuke of Hypocrisy: The psalm contains a stern rebuke of the wicked who engage in hypocrisy, dishonesty, and slander. It exposes the emptiness of outward displays of religion when one’s life is marked by deceit and wrongdoing. This theme highlights the importance of integrity and honesty in one’s relationship with God.
- Warning and Call to Repentance: Psalm 50 issues a warning to those who forget God and persist in unrighteousness. The psalm cautions that God will eventually bring judgment and justice. This serves as a call to repentance, urging individuals to turn away from wickedness and return to the path of righteousness.
- Promise of Deliverance and Salvation: Amidst the warning, the psalm extends an invitation to true repentance. It emphasizes that those who offer praise to God and order their lives in alignment with His ways will experience God’s deliverance and salvation. This theme provides hope and encouragement, highlighting God’s willingness to forgive and redeem.
Sometimes, when I read my Bible, I pause in the reading and say to myself: ‘This bit’s real.’ It would be fair to say, I have issues with Mary, because, contrary to what we are taught to say, Mary isn’t my mother. Rather: Mum is. One bit of the Bible-text says this: And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for people were saying, “He is beside himself.” … And his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.” (Mark 3: 21; 31-35.) Here she comes. She is in considerable distress. I can imagine that. I can relate to that. To save her boy from whatever he’s got himself into this time. And you’re not telling me there isn’t something inside that. Her boy is beside himself. Radical. Radicalized. Radicalizing. A misunderstood word. /ˈradɪk(ə)l/ adjective & noun. 1 Forming the root, basis, or foundation; original, primary. 2a Inherent in the nature of a thing or person; fundamental. b Of action, change, an idea: going to the root or origin; far-reaching, thorough. c Advocating thorough or far-reaching change. d Characterized by departure from tradition; progressive; unorthodox. ‘He has a demon! And he is mad!’ – thus ‘the Jews’. (e.g. John 10: 20.) Come home! It’s all she wants. His family want him back now. But it is an exclusive cult: there is an inside and there is an outside; and on the outside, they are not meant to understand, lest they be converted. He has defined himself as different from anything she was. Only at the end does Jesus say to his Mum – and with savage, bitter irony: ‘Woman, behold your son.’ And then he dies. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. We ask that we might find Mary in our hearts as a Yes! place for Jesus. It is also recommended that we pray to Jesus that we may be further in oneness with Mary. It is self-emptying, such that we only exist insofar as we are responsive to God’s Word. * Last term, and put-out to pasture, the old Archbishop Emeritus came over to stay for a few days and did the odd class with us. He spoke of Yes! as the meaning of Mary’s virginity. And we were not very nice about him. One or two took umbrage. One or two got the hump. In a sense, his Grace, the Arch, basically wanted to move anyone he’d ever known from a high-place – a mountain – received theological ‘truth’ – to an imminent, human plane. Earthing the spiritual. Recalibrating metrics of life’s believability toward a spiritual sense of things. He might have asked the impermissible question: what happened? His Grace described it. God’s love as a cloud. This descended upon Mary – and subsumed her. Within the cloud, Mary capitulated utterly. She became only and purely a response to God’s love. As he spoke, the Arch cradled her. He carried her in his lap – in his hands. His Grace was a consecrated bishop. He was faith. He sat squat, a rounded man, hands cupped and ankles crossed, fingers interlocked, with parted thighs. Rumpled, washed, speckled. A lifetime’s skin… There could be no doubt His Grace spoke through long-term personal relationship with Mary. It was Julian went for him: ‘So are you saying Mary was a Virgin? Or are you not saying Mary was a Virgin?’ Nasty. No, it wasn’t pretty. Julian twisting his silver ring. For a moment, what Julian had said to the Arch simply failed to communicate. No, for a moment, that dumped on the air meant nothing. Then His Grace said: ‘There is a range of possible meanings we may understand in the question of Mary’s virginity. For example, there are understandings of the word virginity entailed in the action of giving birth.’ Julian said: ‘Duh! So had she had sex or hadn’t she?’ Trigger words. No, it wasn’t pretty. On that went for a little while. At length, Julian’s point seemed reluctantly conceded. Then the Arch told us a new story, an additionally human event, the more to baffle us. Controversially, he told us that Mary could not have been Joseph’s first wife, for this would not have been the way of things in the society of that time. His belief was that Joseph must have taken Mary into his household through pity. That would be normal, he said, for Joseph to bring a young, vulnerable girl, who is about to have a baby, within his protection, not meaning to enjoy with her marital relations, but through kindness. ‘And this story of the inn and stable,’ the Archbishop said, ‘it can’t have been like that really. Joseph has travelled with Mary to stay with his family, at home in Bethlehem, and they don’t want Mary in their house, for reasons which I am sure we can understand. It must have been there was considerable resistance to Mary. But Mary gives birth, and who can resist a baby? That’s what happened. It must have been. ‘I’m convinced that must have been how it happened really.’ Later that term, toward the beginning of Advent, we met boys who had been here before, in Valladolid, and now were in regular seminary. They had heard and recited verbatim all the Archbishop had said to them. Their spot-on impressions of each of the fathers were scathing. […]
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The Epiphany is an extraordinary event in the Bible, whereby we hear of the gift and revelation of Christ to all mankind. The three wise men have long studied the heavens; they have been looking for signs, for truths to guide them. They are of the east, of the orient, not of the Jewish people. They have seen the new star that is there to signify Christ and have come on pilgrimage to seek, to find and to worship Jesus [ … ]
