Covenant Renewal Liturgies (Psalm 50)

Israel often would fall away from God and by God’s grace be brought back to a time in which they followed God with their whole hearts. There’s two Psalms called Covenant Renewal Liturgies. One is this one and the other is Psalm 81. These Psalms are kind of like renewing of marriage vows. The covenant was never broken. It might have been hurt at times by the man and the wife not honoring each other, but in this time the couple is renewing their vows and committing to continuing on in everything they’ve promised for each other. Israel is doing this here. This happened pretty often and it’s awesome to see the Lord’s grace and continued plan to make these people a great nation as Psalm 46 and 48 also talk about. Religiosity is always an issue with Israel and in this passage God directly challenges it. He gives them a pretty stern warning in verse 22 and he says, “Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue.” Those are harsh words, but it reminds me of how much God hates religion without the heart involved.

This passage challenges me to think, what is it in my life that I’m doing for God that’s just religion, just to make myself look better in my own eyes, in the eyes of others. What am I doing that I’m thinking will satisfy God, or makes me feel better about myself, when the reality is, is that God knows my heart and that that religious thing that I’m doing, even if it’s a good thing, is so worthless without the heart. What are you doing today that’s religious, that’s probably a good thing and you should keep doing it, but you need to stop and confess to God that your heart has not been in it, and that you’re doing it now, not to make yourself look better, but to honor God. What sins in your life are you trying to cover up by religious practices so that you hope God won’t notice them? Let’s live out real faith today as Israel did in the renewal of their covenant with God.