He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me

Psalm 50 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Mighty One, God, the Lord, has spoken, And summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. ² Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth. ³ May our God come and not keep silence; Fire devours before Him, And it is very tempestuous around Him.
⁴ He summons the heavens above, And the earth, to judge His people: ⁵ “Gather My godly ones to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” ⁶ And the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is judge. Selah.

⁷ “Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you; I am God, your God.
⁸ “I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.
⁹ “I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds. ¹⁰ “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. ¹¹ “I know every bird of the mountains,
And everything that moves in the field is Mine. ¹² “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains. ¹³ “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats? ¹⁴ “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High; ¹⁵ Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”

¹⁶ But to the wicked God says, “What right have you to tell of My statutes And to take My covenant in your mouth? ¹⁷ “For you hate discipline, And you cast My words behind you.
¹⁸ “When you see a thief, you are pleased with him, And you associate with adulterers. ¹⁹ “You let your mouth loose in evil And your tongue frames deceit. ²⁰ “You sit and speak against your brother; You slander your own mother’s son. ²¹ “These things you have done and I kept silence;
You thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.

²² “Now consider this, you who forget God, Or I will tear you in pieces, and there will be none to deliver. ²³ “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; And to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God.”

The psalmist says:  “Gather My godly ones to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”…. “I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, And your burnt offerings are continually before Me. “I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds. “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains. “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats? “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High.”   God does not need the sacrifices man can offer. Of much more value to God is thanksgiving, praise and obedience to His word. 1 Samuel 15:22 says:  Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.      The sacrifices were required under the law, but they were meant to atone for disobedience to the law. That’s why obedience is better than sacrifice. If there were no disobedience, there would be no need for sacrifice. In Psalm 51:14-17 the psalmist says:  Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise. For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.    So even all those years before Jesus came as the Christ, to be the perfect sacrifice for all sin, there was an understanding that it was God who saves, God who delivers from sin. The psalmist knew that the sacrifices required by the law were not really what God desired. Psalm 51 was David’s response to being confronted with his sin of murder and adultery. David understood that nothing he could give as a sacrifice could change and make up for what he did. He said:  A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.    When God chose David to be king He said two things of David. First when Saul was rejected for his disobedience, in 1 Samuel 13:14 it says:  The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.   Then, when choosing from all the sons of Jesse, in 1 Samuel 16:7, rejecting the oldest son God says: “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  David was far from perfect, his failures are well documented in scripture, but his heart was always toward God. When he failed he turned to God in repentance, praise and thanksgiving.

For us, who live now, after Christ has come, we should be even more thankful. We no longer need to respond to our sin with the required sacrifices of the law. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the law. His sacrifice on the cross paid the price for sin, once for all. John 3:16 says:  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”   On the cross Jesus said: “It is finished!” (John 19:30) There is nothing more that we can add to the finished work of the cross. We need only to believe in Jesus and in what He did for us. In today’s text, the psalmist says:  But to the wicked God says, “What right have you to tell of My statutes And to take My covenant in your mouth? “For you hate discipline, And you cast My words behind you. “When you see a thief, you are pleased with him, And you associate with adulterers. “You let your mouth loose in evil And your tongue frames deceit. “You sit and speak against your brother; You slander your own mother’s son. “These things you have done and I kept silence; You thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.  “Now consider this, you who forget God, Or I will tear you in pieces, and there will be none to deliver.”    

There are those today who think that God’s judgment against sin, wickedness and disobedience ended with Jesus, like the required sacrifices. As the psalmist says, because God keeps silent about sin and evil, they believe that God is like them, that He accepts, condones and embraces sin because the cross paid the price for it.    Jesus Himself says:   “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matthew 5:17-20)   Even now, after the finished work of the cross, God still desires obedience. Jesus says: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments… He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me… If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.” (John 14:15,21,23)

The psalmist ends saying:  “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; And to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God.”

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ for the finished work of the cross. Thank You precious Holy Spirit for enabling me to walk in obedience to God and His commandments. My heart is toward You. My desire is to please You. I am thankful for Your love and grace. Like the psalmist, I say, my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise.   Amen.