Psalm 50:1-6 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 50:1-6 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1The mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Verse 2Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
Verse 3Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.
Verse 4He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
Verse 5"Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!"
Verse 6The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah
Devotion
The psalmist testifies to the manifestation of God not only to prophets like Elijah but to all in and through the creation. God, the Lord, is not silent but rather summons the earth and all that is in it to stand before him. Our God is the mighty one who “calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people” (Psalm 50:4).
Religion is not a separate sphere for religious folk who like that sort of thing. The prophets and the psalmists witness to the presence of the One who meets us and knows us in the creation (in beauty, in fire, in tempest). Later in the Bible, St. Paul describes God to the Greeks as the One “in whom we live and move and have our being.” This God calls us to be in covenant relationship with Him by sacrifice, not the sacrifice of burnt offerings, but that of thankful service.
Prayer
O God, we are grateful that you care about your creation and your creatures and that you call us to serve. Enable us to be faithful to your illumining presence. Amen.