In this psalm, God evaluates His people, Israel. Both the righteous and the wicked are addressed in what seems like a courtroom scene with God as the Judge, witnesses that include the earth and the daily cycle of life, and the heavens with the earth that testify to the Lord's holiness, power, and authority. The Jews who had made a covenant with God back at their beginning as a chosen people were gathered together when the summons was heard. In His moral glory, the Judge interprets the law as it applies to His people. The whole issue to be faced is the inappropriate worship of His people.
The appearance of the mighty God as the Judge shows how important this matter is. The worship and sacrifices of God’s people looked good to them, but the Lord looks behind the form and ritual that had developed to what prompted His people to worship and serve Him. Outward acquiescence to what is required in worship and service doesn’t mean anything. Instead, it becomes a form of hypocrisy abhorrent to the Lord. Hymns can be sung, prayers made, messages preached, and service rendered for entirely wrong reasons. The witnesses of heaven and earth are those of God’s creation, including seasons that come and go regularly without deviation, yet fulfill their purposes to benefit us all.
Where God dwells is a reflection of His glory and perfection. We are allowed the great privilege of being in that place of wonder and fellowship with Him and His people. Whether it is a place of thunder, fire, and tempest like Mount Sinai or of glory and beauty like Mount Zion, holiness and holy people are called there by divine authority, not by our convenience and preference. Judgment begins at the house of God. “My saints” in this passage are the Jews who made a covenant with the Lord by sacrifice but were meeting the terms only outwardly, not as true “saints” – people set apart to Him, not just from the world.
Israel had been doing what appeared right, but was inclined to think the sacrifices they brought were of first importance to the Lord. The sacrifices and offerings were not wrong, but the attitude and understanding of those who brought them were. So, God made it plain to them that He doesn’t need “things” because He created everything. God had been the helper and partner in the covenant with Israel, but they broke it. God was not hungry or in any way dependent on them. The sacrifices they brought were supposed to be evidence of a right spiritual condition of heart, but they had become a form to them.
God wants His people to appreciate and be grateful for the blessings they received and the privilege of having a personal relationship with the Almighty God. What pleases Him is thanksgiving and the fulfillment of vows made to Him: “Pay thy vows to the Most High.” Our personal relationship with the Lord involves the promises of love, worship, devotion, and service. He wants our fellowship. Communion with God in prayer and praise indicates a real and meaningful relationship between God and His people.
It is significant to Him when we thank Him for His mercies, grace, and provision to meet our needs. Those vows are essential when we make our vows in times of need. We can call upon Him in trouble, and He will deliver us. He loves to bless His people. The interchange of heart work is what makes communion real. To be active in Christian service doesn’t establish a relationship with the Lord. All the animals the Jews brought to God as sacrifices were His in the first place. “The cattle on a thousand hills are mine,” God said. Why they brought them was what was important. God is not hungry for food but for faith in us.
God also spoke to those who knew the statutes and judgments of God but did not live by them. They hated the discipline of obedience to the Lord. Obedience to God and His moral law, giving honor to Him, and praise would bring deliverance as He fulfills His part of the covenant to Israel. It was wicked for them to reject God’s laws for the conduct of life, even though they went through the rituals and forms the same as the idolaters. Knowing and doing are very different. God judges superficial religion in which people go through the motions but do not honor Him with true thanksgiving and praise. It is still happening today. People gather together in “churches,” but they are coming to learn how to “feel good about themselves” because they “feel the love” in a particular place. What God gets from them is less important than what they “get out of the service.”
God spoke back then in warnings to the wicked, immoral, and hard-hearted people who felt themselves above correction. Instead of welcoming the help of constructive criticism, they resent it and attack those who offer it. In the case of Israel, resentment was even against the Lord. Hopefully, people will understand that righteousness, not ritual, is important today. To claim God’s promises but to refuse to obey Him is sin and hypocrisy. If such inconsistency continues, it is usually evidence of no real life with God and no real life from God.
The Jews once had faith in God, and their sacrifices were meaningful. But they forgot the significance of what they meant, and their religious activity became a form without the heart. God didn’t judge them immediately because He is a God of mercy. They treated God’s word with contempt instead of reverence and ignored and rejected His word. They refused to separate from the wicked around them; they disobeyed God and brought reproach to His name. They spoke openly of evil matters without restraint and spoke lies and deception against family members. They didn’t repent, thinking the patience of God was because He was overlooking their sin and ignorance.
We are wise when we learn from the accounts of God’s dealings with His people in the past. Those who forget God and live ignoring Him, unless they repent, will be destroyed. Acts of worship are not a substitute for righteous living. Those who bring the sacrifices of thanksgiving glorify God and will be delivered from the consequences of sin and peril because they are committed to obeying the Lord. God will unmask hypocrisy, and He approves of those who order their way of life so they can please Him, who is our Gracious Father.