Comment: As you read through this Psalm, which gets in my book an A++, note that I have underlined the different ways in which God is speaking! I will just make a few comments on the ways in which He speaks as ‘interruptions’ as you read through it!
1 The Mighty One, God the LORD,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth. – God speaks silently through creation and beauty!
3 Our God comes; he does not keep silence;
before him is a devouring fire,
around him a mighty tempest. – God speaks violently though geological and climatic things!
4 He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!” – He speaks universally, to all His created ones, through conscience, training, and His Word.
6 The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge! Selah – But think about it He also speaks as the Judge!
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you. – And now He speaks in judgement. But how does He speak? Through personal writing as with Moses on stone tablets on Mt Sinai, through His prophets, through scripture, through dreams and visions? We must be careful when we get into the subjective to. avoid following our own dreams and imaginings! The following message, however, is pristine and clear!
I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me. – you are ‘faithful’ in carrying out the letter of the law!
9 I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds. – but sacrificing isn’t about outward show – feeding God’s ego!
10 For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and its fullness are mine. – God says, ‘Don’t forget that I made and own everything’. This is a very significant preamble, but the real ‘punch’ of God’s message comes in tomorrow’s reading!
Proverbs 3: 5-6 – Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Prayer: Make me a Listener first and then a doer of Your commands, please.
As I read it! 