In Our Image

Psalm 50:21 These things you have done and I kept silent; you thought I was altogether like you.  But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face. 


I consider this psalm to be a wake up call for all of us who think that the Psalms are a bunch of feel-good sayings to calm and inspire us.  If I were to give this psalm a title, it would be something like, "Know Your Role", or "Remember Who You're Dealing With Here".

We often forget that God is sovereign and the absolute ruler of everything.  This verse is addressed specifically to the wicked, and comes after listing some evil things that the wicked do.  (I encourage you to read that list.  They aren't all what many would consider extremely bad.)  However the part that really stood out was the phrase "you thought that I was altogether like you."  So many times even well-intentioned people deceive themselves into thinking that God is someone like them, when He is not even close.  While many of us don't go that far, we often make God into someone that He isn't.  One of my favorite contemporary authors, George R. Knight, put it this way.

For too long we have thought of God as a toothless old grandfather or as a figment of Uncle Arthur's bedtime stories in which all who are kind and good get eternal candy.  C.S. Lewis caught the point when he suggested that what most people want is 'not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven' --kind of a 'senile benevolence.'

It is quotations like that, and psalms like Psalm 50, that remind me that I was created in God's image, and not the other way around.

Avoiding Being "Aweful"

Psalm 49:16,17 "Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him."

I've been reading through the Psalms for a little while now, and I have decided to start sharing some of the insights I've gained from my reading.  I'm starting with this passage simply because it comes from the psalm I am focusing on today in my personal reading.

It's very easy to become overawed (a new word for me) when I see the news of  all these people who are, for a lack of a better term, filthy rich.  When I hear about people who make millions and are worth billions, my mind has difficulty even comprehending those figures.  I need to realize that they are still people, and should be thought of in that way regardless of their tremendous wealth.  The  old adage "You can't take it with you" still applies, and I need to remember to not become too "aweful" when I read or hear about these people.