Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – Psalms 50
Set – Psalms 50; 2 Corinthians 1
Go! – Judges 11-12; Psalms 50; 2 Corinthians 1
Psalms 50
1 The Mighty God, the Eternal—God of past, present, and future—
has spoken over the world,
calling together all things from sunrise to sunset.
2 From Zion, that perfectly beautiful holy place,
shines the radiance of God.
3 Our God will come, and He will not enter on a whisper.
A fire will devour the earth before Him;
the wind will storm wildly about Him.
4 He calls heaven above and earth below
to assist in bringing judgment on His people.
5 “Gather up those who are aligned with Me; bring them to Me;
bring everyone who belongs to Me who have made covenant sacrifice.”
6 And the heavens shout of His justice,
for He is the True God, an honest judge.
[pause][a]
7 “Listen, My people, I have something to say:
O Israel, My testimony comes against you;
I am God, your God.
8 I am not going to scold you because of your sacrifices;
your burnt offerings are always before Me.
9 I will not accept the best bull from your fields
or goats from your meadow,
10 For they are already Mine, just as the forest beast
and the cattle grazing over a thousand hills are Mine.
11 Every bird flying over the mountains I know;
every animal roaming over the fields belongs to Me.
12 I would not come to you if I were hungry,
for the world and all it contains are Mine.
13 Do you really think I eat bull meat?
Or drink goat’s blood?
14 Set out a sacrifice I can accept: your thankfulness.
Be true to your word to the Most High.
15 When you are in trouble, call for Me.
I will come and rescue you,
and you will honor Me.”
16 But to those acting against Him, God says,
“Who do you think you are?
Listing off My laws,
acting as if your life is in alignment with My ways?
17 For it’s clear that you despise My guidance;
you throw My wise words over your shoulder.
18 You play with thieves,
spend your time with adulterers.
19 Evil runs out of your mouth;
your tongue is wrapped in deceit.
20 You sit back and gossip about your brother;
you slander your mother’s son.
21 While you did these things, I kept silent;
somehow you got the idea that I was like you.
But now My silence ends, and I am going to indict you.
I’ll state the charge against you clearly, face-to-face.
22 All you who have forgotten Me, your God, should think about what I have said,
or I will tear you apart and leave no one to save you.
23 Set out a sacrifice I can accept: your thankfulness.
Do this, and you will honor Me.
Those who straighten up their lives
will know the saving grace of God.”
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
A lot of people don’t remember who Asaph was. You see the twelve psalms ascribed to him, but probably don’t think much about what he did. If you look into the book of Chronicles, you’ll find where David made assignments to the different clans within the Levite tribe for the care and maintenance of the tabernacle and the future temple and for the acts of worship that would take place before and after the temple construction. David named Asaph the song leader, the music director, the one in charge of all the vocal and instrumental harmony that would fill My place of worship.
As you read Asaph’s psalms, you might think he would focus on the music and the worship in the temple. You might think Asaph would put together words that fill the temple with praise and happy thoughts. But as you read the words that I inspired him to write in his psalms, you’ll find instead condemnation of those who forget what worship is about. You’ll see him calling people back to Me.
Perhaps because of Asaph’s position, he saw the shallow ritual many performed and understood better than most that I didn’t need the meat sacrificed on the altars. Everything belongs to Me anyway, so I don’t need the food and drink as the other pagan religions felt their gods needed. Asaph understood I wanted the people’s praise. I wanted their true worship. I wanted them to understand who I was and what I did for them each day in giving them food to eat, water to drink, the sun to warm them, and the night to cool them.
Asaph’s psalms are filled with a call to recognize Me as the One True, Eternal God. He tried to emphasize what I wanted from My people and the consequences of not following Me. He filled his songs with judgment and justice. He also included in them My grace and mercy because He saw that side exercised on behalf of My people as they came to the temple and I released them from their heavy burdens.
Asaph served in the courts of kings, but regarded them as nothing compared to his service in My courts. He knew the place of honor I held and did his best to renew the people’s faith in Me and Me alone. Asaph knew what worship is all about. Read his psalms understanding his role in the temple and recognize the call he gives to bring everyone back to the place of worship as it should be…with Me as the center of attention.
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