#DailyDevotion Are You Treating The LORD As God?
Psalm 50 7“Listen, My people, and I will speak; listen, Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God!
The LORD having called heaven and earth to be His witnesses, He now addresses the accused, His own people. He calls upon them to listen to Him testify against them. The basis for the charges He brings is this, “I am God, your God.!” As we shall see, the Israelites did not treat God as God.
8I do not criticize you for your sacrifices, for regularly bringing Me your burnt offerings. 9But I need not take a bull from your homes or a male goat from your folds, 10since all the animals in the forest are Mine and the cattle on the hills by the thousand. 11I care for every bird in the hills, and everything stirring in the field is present before Me. 12If I were hungry, I need not tell you because the world is Mine and everything in it. 13Do I eat the meat of bulls or drink the blood of goats?
Now the LORD prescribed all these sacrifices in the Torah, the covenant He made with them through His servant Moses. But as we see, these were for the Israelites. God did not need them. Because He had commanded them, He did not criticize them for bringing them. But unlike the pagan gods, the LORD does not need them. Apparently, the Israelites thought He did. But the LORD lays it out before them, everything is His. If we wanted to eat a bull, a goat or a lamb, He’d simply take them. The LORD does not hunger or thirst. These sacrifices were for the consciences of the people.
14Bring God your thanks as a sacrifice, and do for the most high God what you vowed. 15Call Me in time of trouble! When I rescue you, you should honor Me.”
So there are several things the LORD wants from His people, to treat Him as God. First, the LORD wants thanksgiving as a sacrifice. He wants to be recognized as the One who gives all good things to His people. He is the source of every good. They should be thanking Him and not these foreign gods, if the people are grateful at all. This is the most important thing. Secondly, He wants them to keep the vow they made at Sinai. He wants them to obey Him by keeping the statutes, laws, regulations and commandments He gave them. It is a sign of love and trust when they do so from the heart. Remember, the LORD told them to circumcise their hearts. Just as the sacrifices mean nothing to Him when they are done without a sincere heart, so too obedience done only out of fear and not love and trust means nothing to Him.
The third way the LORD wanted to be treated as God is for His people to call upon Him in times of trouble. It amazes me to hear people say, “I wouldn’t want to ask God for X, certainly He is involved with more important things,” or “Certainly God is too busy to deal with this.” As if the LORD the Creator and Sustainer of all creation doesn’t have the ability to answer your prayers. Even worse, You think He doesn’t want to be bothered by your concerns. If you believe God is your Father and He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the atoning sacrifice for your sins, how can you not believe He cares for you, about everything going on in your life. Treat the LORD as God and call upon Him in times of trouble. Fourthly, He is treated as God when we honor Him when He rescues us, which goes back to the first thing of offering thanksgiving as a sacrifice. When we are delivered from trials and tribulations, we should recognize it is the LORD who has delivered us. We need to acknowledge it by giving praise to Him and no one else for our deliverance when it occurs.
Heavenly Father, give us Your Spirit, that we may recognize You as our God, give thanks and praise to You, call upon You in times of trouble, obey you out of love, and honor with our hearts and lips as the One who has saved us from every trouble. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.