7 “Hear, my people, and I will speak;
Israel, and I will testify against you.
I am God, your God. 8 I don’t rebuke you for your sacrifices.
Your burnt offerings are continually before me. 9 I have no need for a bull from your stall,
nor male goats from your pens. 10 For every animal of the forest is mine,
and the livestock on a thousand hills. 11 I know all the birds of the mountains.
The wild animals of the field are mine. 12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world is mine, and all that is in it. 13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats? 14 Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
Pay your vows to the Most High. 15 Call on me in the day of trouble.
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 50:7-15
Commentary on Psalm 50:7-15
(Read Psalm 50:7-15)
To obey is better than sacrifice, and to love God and our neighbour better than all burnt-offerings. We are here warned not to rest in these performances. And let us beware of resting in any form. God demands the heart, and how can human inventions please him, when repentance, faith, and holiness are neglected? In the day of distress we must apply to the Lord by fervent prayer. Our troubles, though we see them coming from God's hand, must drive us to him, not drive us from him. We must acknowledge him in all our ways, depend upon his wisdom, power, and goodness, and refer ourselves wholly to him, and so give him glory. Thus must we keep up communion with God; meeting him with prayers under trials, and with praises in deliverances. A believing supplicant shall not only be graciously answered as to his petition, and so have cause for praising God, but shall also have grace to praise him.