1 O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses; you have been angry; oh, restore us.
2 You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open; repair its breaches, for it totters.
3 You have made your people see hard things; you have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.
4 You have set up a banner for those who fear you, that they may flee to it from the bow. Selah
5 That your beloved ones may be delivered, give salvation by your right hand and answer us! – Psalm 60:1-5

What stands out to you? Ask yourself, “How do I respond to the Lord?”

If he rejected me…
If he broke my defenses…
If he was angry with me…
If he causes an earthquake…

Let me ask it like this. What if similar things happen in your marriage relationship? What if you made your spouse angry? What would do? Or rather, what should you do?

If you love your spouse then you will do what is necessary to repair and remain in the relationship with your spouse.

The same is true with the Lord. If you love the Lord then you will plead with him like this psalm does.

…oh, restore us!
…repair its breaches!

And verse 5…wow…such bold faith!

I think we struggle to think of God as a person in whom we love and have a covenant relationship with. I would encourage you to approach his throne of grace boldly in Jesus’s Name! He’s your access. He is your yes and amen!

This is how you abuse authority:

7 And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, people of Benjamin; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds,
8 that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day.” – 1 Samuel 22:7-8

What follows this abuse is the disclosure of Doeg the Edomite about David’s visit to Ahimelech. Psalm 52 ascribes to Doeg, a mighty man, to have boasted in evil with his tongue, devised destruction with his tongue, and spoke falsehood with his tongue. The tongue is like a sharp razor!

Psalm 52 seems to imply that Doeg trusted in the abundance of riches rather God. Saul seemed to have implied that he would give fields and vineyards and make anyone commander of thousands (status) in exchange for information about David.

This is how how it will end for Doeg: But God will break you down forever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah – Psalm 52:5

The abuse of authority…the love of money and status and O deceitful tongue leads to destruction not to a “green olive tree in the house of God.” (Ps 52:8)

Psalm 50 ends like this:

The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!” – Psalm 50:23

When you say “thank you” to the Lord what are you acknowledging?

(Psalm 50 answers this question as well as many other places)

We need to be reminded of what’s at the root of thanksgiving. There’s a danger of saying it without thinking and setting our minds on why we are giving thanks.

In addition, as this Psalm points out, “to you who forget God,” it’s possible to stop thinking about the Lord and that might have come from forgetting why you give thanks and eventually those empty words result in an empty heart.

This reveals itself in this psalm by hating discipline, turning one’s back on God’s word, and several OBVIOUS sins and acceptance of other’s sins without regard for the Lord.

And here’s the thing…all the while…don’t miss this…telling “my statues” and taking “my covenant in your mouth.”

In other words, one can say with their mouth (mindless repetition) the word of God while “letting your mouth loose in evil.”

Let’s pray this: “May our God come and not keep silence.” Better that we judge and be judged NOW than later. The Lord is merciful to those who bend low before him and lay bare our drift into empty words of thanksgiving.

I bet when he forgives you/us again you/we will finds plenty of heartfelt reasons to give thanks!