The worship of Psalm 50, more than singing songs

Psalm 50
"Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God. I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens,
for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Sacrifice thank-offerings to God, fulfil your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honour me."


I believe that Psalm 50 is telling us that higher than our ritual of singing songs is the simple acknowledgement that God is what we need. In Verse 15 the Psalmist urges to call on God when we are in trouble; this is what God wants over our sacrificial ritualistic Sunday morning or big event praise offerings. The Israelites were very quick to offer sacrifice through burnt offerings, but God wanted more than that, he wanted to be present when his people needed help, God wants to be part of everything.
We have a tendency to find comfort in the song and not in the comforter. It is more difficult to find the creator in the mundane things of life than in your favourite songs on Sunday, but when you do, when you begin to find him in all the stuff of life, everything starts to sing. This is living praise.
I hope that my worship becomes more than a song. I pray that my worship is habitual. I pray that my worship becomes the worship found in Psalm 50. Make worship your lifestyle.

Tim Beattie

Living Jesus

I have started reading "Following Jesus - a non-religious guidebook for the spiritually hungry". It is making me re-evaluate how living a Jesus centred life should be more of a danger than we let it be, it prompted me to create the above picture.

Speaking to one another

Speak to one another
with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,
always giving thanks to God the Father for everything,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:19-20

Mostly when I hear people talking about verse 19 of Ephesians 5 they are using it to argue for the different styles of songs that can be used in times of praise. It’s good for that. It also tells us so much more than that though. We tend to miss out the first line, but it sets the scene. It includes the verb, the doing part of the verse. It tells us what to do with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. It tells us, that we should use them to ‘speak to one another’.

Now don’t get me wrong, above all, I believe our praise should be giving God the glory that he rightfully deserves. We sing and make music in our hearts to give God thanks for ‘everything’. God must be our focus. But there must also be an awareness of others around us when we praise as part of a community or gathering. I like to think of it as a direct parallel, when we praise God together, we should also be building up the body of Christ in Spirit and truth. So does that mean praise isn’t just about us and God? Should we think of corporate praise as being about ourselves and those around us and how we interact with God together?

I think we have to understand it like this.
I also think we need reminded of this.

It’s easy to get carried away with the notion that praise times are times for God and me to do business on our own. Fair enough it might well be that there are lots of other people in the room, but the interaction taking place is really just God, me and nobody else. Paul’s teaching in his letter to the Ephesians however reveals something different. The next time you gather to praise God think about those around you. Never ever allow anything other than giving God glory take centre stage during praise, but endeavour to make it more than just about how you make God centre stage by yourself. Make sure you are making every effort to edify those around you as you exalt God to the highest place. There couldn’t possibly be a better built community of believers than one that emerges from our praises to God.






Tim Beattie