Show Don't Tell: Psalm 50

Instead of saying "God doesn't need our sacrifices," hear the divine lawsuit. A psalm of Asaph. "The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to where it sets. From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth." Court convenes—earth summoned as witness. "Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages. He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that he may judge his people." Heaven and earth as jury. "Gather to me this consecrated people, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice." The defendants: God's own people. "And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for he is a God of justice." Verdict assured. God speaks: "Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel: I am God, your God. I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills." All livestock already belongs to God. "I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it." God doesn't need feeding. "Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me." What God wants: thanksgiving, faithfulness, prayer. To the wicked: "But to the wicked person, God says: 'What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips? You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you.'"