Offer unto God thanksgiving, and perform thy vows unto the Most High;
Psalm 50 is a courtroom scene: God states His case against His own people. Their sacrifices were not missing — the heart behind them was, and verse 14 names what He wants instead.
The verses just before make God's independence plain. The problem was never a shortage of animals on the altar.
These verses give God's testimony to Israel. He reproves them for trusting in the outward form of religion. He does not reprove them over their sacrifices, as if they had not brought any. God does not want sacrifice from man; He asks for righteousness. He has grown weary of religious men who keep bringing sacrifices, as if He were claiming cattle from men, or as if He were hungry and needed meat. Every beast of the forest is His, and the cattle on a thousand hills. All the fullness of the earth is at His disposal.
Offerings piled up while the heart behind them drained away. One writer traces this to a shrinking view of God, and to a hidden motive in the giving.
Israel's folly had been to make God small. They forgot the rock that gave them birth, yet they never stopped thinking of themselves as the people of God. So sacrifice abounded, while mercy perished from the land. They drew near in His courts. They said, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord." But hearts that did not know the secret of His praise grudged the incense their hands brought there. They gave in the empty hope of getting something back. They did not know the ways of the One who gives generously and does not find fault.
Thanksgiving is not a smaller substitute for sacrifice. It is what sacrifice was meant to express, and the vow ranks higher still.
He goes on to the positive side. What He sought was thanksgiving. It is the sign of conscious dependence, and of their recognition of the gifts of His generous hand. A vow stood higher than an offering of thanksgiving. It expressed more positive faith in God under the pressure of circumstances. The clear statement already made, that sacrifice is not required, shows that He insists on the New Testament "sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving." Faith must underlie that praise if it is real: the faith which in the day of distress draws nearer to Him, instead of wandering off into paths devised by one's own wisdom, or giving way under the pressure.
The next verse tells them to call on Him in the day of trouble. That shows which way this exchange runs, and one writer marks how vows stand for us today.
What then did God really expect from them? Simply thankful and dependent hearts (vv. 14-15). He rightly expected the sacrifice of honest thanksgiving, and honesty in paying their vows. Today, under grace, we are told not even to make vows (Matt. 5:33-34). But when Israel made vows, they were guilty if they did not keep them. Now God makes it clear that He does not in any way depend on them. He instructs them to depend on Him... In fact, He would Himself send them trouble, so that they would call upon Him. When He delivered them, they would glorify God — not do something for Him!
Because praise gives God His place, it turns out to be where a believer's power lies.
We find the spirit of praise is the spirit of power. It must be so, because God is exalted in it. It is what the fiftieth psalm asks from His people on His part: "Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High… whoever offers praise glorifies Me." This marks the life that comes from God: it turns back to God again. And the joy of the Lord is always its principle of strength. A simple lesson, but, oh, that it were learned!
The same offering shapes the whole Christian life, and it runs in one direction only.
A Christian life is a sacrifice of praise to God in which the infinite value of the Lord Jesus Christ is confessed to Him. It is a sacrifice of praise to God, the heart thanking God for what He has done. Not a new claim upon God, not a claim at all; but the answer to God's claim, the answer of praise to Him for all that He has done for us.
- He owns it — every beast of the forest and the cattle on a thousand hills are already His. No offering can meet a need in God.
- He wants thanks — thanksgiving shows a heart that depends on Him and sees what His generous hand gives.
- He wants it kept — the vow ranks higher, because it is faith speaking under pressure. Israel was guilty if a vow went unpaid.
- He wants the call — trouble comes so that we call on Him. He delivers, and He gets the glory. He never depends on us.
- He is glorified — praise answers God's claim; it never makes one. The life that turns back to Him finds His joy as its strength.
And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
Psalm 50 is God's case against people whose religion had become routine — sacrifices at the altar while the heart stayed far away. Then comes verse 15, where God asks nothing but a cry for help.
The verses just before strip away any idea that God is fed or supplied by what people bring Him.
The verses that follow declare God's testimony to Israel, reproving them for trusting in the outward form of religion. He is not reproving them for failing to bring sacrifices. God does not want sacrifice from man; what He asks for is righteousness. God is weary of religious men who keep bringing sacrifices, as if He were claiming cattle from men, or as if He were hungry and needed meat. Every beast of the forest is His, and the cattle on a thousand hills.
So what does God want instead? One writer sees Him stripping Israel of every claim, and putting dependence in its place.
Now God makes it clear that He does not depend on them in any way. Instead, He tells them to depend on Him (v. 15). So God takes away from Israel every right to trust in what they could do for God. He shows them to be wholly dependent on His pure goodness. In fact, He would Himself send them trouble, so that they would call on Him. When He delivered them, they would glorify God — not do something for Him!
One writer points to two sisters who took their trouble straight to Jesus, and warns us against turning anywhere else.
In their time of trouble, the sisters turned to their divine Friend. Jesus was a sure resource for them, as He is for all His tested ones — wherever they are, however they are, whoever they are. "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me." We make a most serious mistake when, in any time of need or pressure, we turn to people or things for help or sympathy. We are sure to be disappointed. Those streams run dry. Those supports give way.
Real thanks rests on faith, and trouble shows which way that faith turns.
The thanksgiving He asks must be joined with the faith that underlies it, if it is real — the faith which in the day of distress draws nearer to Him instead of wandering off in paths devised by one's own wisdom, or giving way under the pressure.
Sometimes the trouble is our own doing. King Jehoshaphat's was, and he still called.
Jehoshaphat had put himself into a completely false position. He had linked himself with the most ungodly of Israel's kings… No wonder, then, that the Syrian captains mistook him for Ahab. But at his very lowest point — in the very shadow of death — "he cried out." That cry went up to the gracious and ever-attentive ear of Jehovah, who had said, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you." Precious grace!
Daniel and his companions faced a death sentence in a foreign land. They prayed this promise together.
Counting on God, Daniel associated his companions with himself in his prayers. It is the first instance of united prayer recorded in Scripture. That these children of the captivity turned to it shows us the secret of their holy and separate walk… They were only foreigners in a strange land, exiled for the sins of their nation. Now they faced a speedy death, unless the forgotten dream could be recalled and interpreted. But they knew the One they were dealing with, the One who had said in their own Scriptures, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me."
The promise sets no timetable. A delay does not mean it has failed.
The evil has risen so high that escape seems impossible. Even so, God remains the solid Rock on which the godly may fully depend… An answer may be delayed for a time, but this is only a test of faith, to move the heart to keep praying.
- He needs nothing. Every beast and every hill is already His. Routine sacrifices give Him nothing He asked for.
- So He asks trust. He looks for thanks and dependence — a heart that leans on His goodness, not one that supplies His needs.
- Call first. Other helpers and our own plans run dry. Verse 15 sends you past them, straight to God.
- He delivers. Jehoshaphat cried out from a mess of his own making, and God heard him. Daniel and his companions pleaded this promise under a death sentence, and God answered.
- You glorify Him. God may send the trouble Himself, so the rescue is His alone. The praise then goes back to Him — never to anything we did for Him.