Bible Commentaries
Psalms 50

Verses 1-23

The singer addresses himself in the name of God to the whole earth, that it may hear and learn an important lesson. The call is made in the first verse. The final appeal is in verses Psalms 50:22-23.

The lesson is that forgetfulness of God issues in gravest peril, while the remembrance which worships ensures the blessing of salvation. Between the call to attention and the final appeal the psalmist sings of the relation between God and His own (verses Psa 50:2-15 ), and then of the attitude of God to the wicked. As for the former, they are to be the medium of His praise. God shone forth out of Zion. To do this the saints are to be gathered to Him, that, through them He may be manifested in power and righteousness. Their gathering is not because of any sacrifice they can bring of things already belonging to God, but wholly on the basis of praise and trust. The wicked can have no part in such manifestation of God, and therein lie their chief sin and failure.

This is a thought of most searching power. Our most heinous sin is not the act of wrong done, but the fact that such wrong incapacitates us from fulfilling our highest function of glorifying God, and showing forth His praise.