“A heavenly summons”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Thursday, December 16, 2021
Psalm 50 (Forward, p. 48) CEV p. 584
Although I have spent plenty of time in court, family or district criminal court that is, as either a prosecuting officer/ witness or as a friend and supporter of someone summoned to appear before a judge, I have never sat in the prisoner’s box itself. I think that such would be unduly unnerving—even if my case was straight-forward and the verdict easy to reach and not inclined to result in some serious penalty like jail time or a hefty fine.
Yet that is exactly the scenario that is presented in today’s psalm. We, you and I, are in the prisoner’s box. It is a scenario that, according to Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart in their excellent book, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, characterizes much of the legal sections of the Hebrew Bible.
So, here in today’s passage it is God, Almighty God, who is judge, prosecutor, and court official. And who are the defendants? It is us human beings. We are being called to appear before the judge to answer and account for our doings here on earth. He is calling us to appear before Him because we claim to have entered into a covenant with Him. As such, we have certain obligations and responsibilities.
Basically, there are two groups of defendants here in this courtroom. The first group are generally quite religious, for they are quite disciplined and faithful in offering the sacrifices expected of God’s people. However, it would appear that these are more of a creature of ‘form’ than of reality. In other words, their hearts are not really ‘in it’. The sacrifices stem more from habit and obligation than really ‘meaning it’. And so, what God desires is something from the heart, namely earnest praise and thanksgiving, faithfulness in living up to our word, and obedience and prayer.
The second group appears to be less religious and much more wayward in word and deed. These people have rejected God’s commandments and refused His correction. And clearly their lives reflect this: they are hobnobbing with crooks and adulterers and filling their conversations with lies, violent suggestions and injurious gossip. Furthermore, they are ‘writing off’ God, naively assuming that it doesn’t matter to God and that God will not intervene.
So now God is demanding action, correction on the part of both groups of people. ‘Pay attention’, He says, ‘or else, or else they will face some sanctions, some punishment from God. Shape up, or there will be nobody that will be able to help them.’
And, surely in this Advent season, it is a great time, an appropriate time, for self-examination, for all of us, no matter who we are, have fallen short of what God expects or demands of us. So, let us answer this heavenly summons with the proper response: that is, to examine ourselves, yes, and make the needed ‘course-corrections’ right now. Let us take this in hand, you and I, right now. Amen.
Forward notes: “Our God will come and will not keep silence, before him there is a consuming flame, and round about him a raging storm” (verse 3).
“There’s a street preacher who stands on the corner of Fruitvale and MacArthur, a microphone in hand and a portable speaker at his feet. Because I often walk to the local post office, bank, and grocery store, I am privy to the arguments he makes and to the scripture he quotes, day after day, week after week.
“Recently, though, he told a new story, one I hadn’t heard before: ‘The difference between our God and the gods you all worship is that this God doesn’t talk back! Nope, never talks back!’ I believe he was equating his argument to the gods of money and fame, the gods of praise and recognition. But that day, opposite a corner from him, I felt a smile creep across my face, as a tiny chuckle emerged from my throat.
“According to the psalmist, our God does talk back, all the time. Our God does not keep silent, for ‘before him there is a devouring flame, and round about him a raging storm.’ Our God is speaking all the time. The only question is, are we listening?”
Moving Forward: “How is God not keeping silent toward you?”
