“Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you; I am God, your God. I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are continually before Me…. But to the wicked God says, ‘What right have you to tell of My statutes and to take My covenant in your mouth? … When you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you associate with adulterers.’ … He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; And to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God” (Psa 50:7–8, 16, 18, 23).
Psalm 50 is a psalm of rebuke by the Levitical prophet and musician Asaph (see 1 Chron 25:1–2, 6; 2 Chron 29:30; 35:15). In this psalm, God highlights the sacrifices with which He is genuinely pleased (Psa 50:14, 23) and rebukes His people for thinking they can use religious acts, namely sacrifices in the temple, as a smokescreen to hide their wickedness (vv. 16–22). Most notable in the list of sins is “associating with adulterers.” It is striking that in the very next psalm, King David confesses his sin of adultery (Psa 51:0) and speaks about the only sacrifices with which God is genuinely pleased (Psa 51:16, 17, 19).
When we self-identify as saints because we are actively religious, we may in fact be standing with the wicked.
In our minds, we tend to place people into neat, mutually exclusive categories: sinners and saints. But the juxtaposition of Psalms 50 and 51 reveals that the boundary line between these two groups is far more fluid. When we self-identify as saints because we are actively religious, we may in fact be standing with the wicked.
God is not interested first and foremost in what we do for Him. Rather, He is interested in the condition of our hearts. When we grasp the truth of Psalm 50, that many of the things we supposedly do for God are actually done for ourselves, David’s prayer becomes our own. We begin to see how desperately we need God to give us a new heart:
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psa 51:10).
