FRIDAY 9th
Psalm 49
NIV (v1) – ‘Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world . . .’
ESV (v1) – ‘Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world . . .’
This psalm starts of with a call to the whole world to listen, to hear, regardless of status or position, for the psalmist was going to declare words of wisdom, a message all needed to hear, and he would give the message with the accompaniment of music.
The message in a nutshell is that no matter where we are or who we are, we will all go the same way! Even if a man or woman should have an abundance of wealth, it would never be sufficient to give a ransom for their life, death will one day call them. The rich die, the poor die, the wise die, the foolish die, the pompous die, and the beggar dies. Those who boast will die, those who are humble will die.
Death is an appointment we will all have to keep, we do not know when that moment has been set, but it will surely arrive for us all. The calamity is that death will lead to destruction, death will lead to hell, unless something can be done about it, and of himself man has no power to do anything about it, but the psalmist in what at first seems to be a rather sombre and sad song makes a powerful statement in verse 15 ‘But God will ransom my soul, from the powers of Shoel, for he will receive me.’ The translators add a little word here, ‘selah’ which is taken to mean ‘pause and think on this’ or ‘pause and think about this’. In other words, the psalmist had received wisdom as he meditated in his heart that in the gloominess of what seemed to be the determined end for every man and woman there was hope, and the hope was not to be found in man himself, not even with his wealth and riches, pride, or wisdom, but to be found in God himself. In other words, do not trust in your wealth, your riches, your wisdom, and pride—hope only in God! For there is way that will lead from eternal destruction to eternal life, there is way that will lead from hopelessness to hope, there is a way that leads toward life everlasting and it is not to be found in anything that man can ever try to achieve, it is only to be found in what God would do, and the psalmist trusted in God, he believed that as he trusted God, a way would be made available for him to walk in the way everlasting, that he would be delivered from Shoel.
And the way was provided, in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, he came into this world as the one who is the truth, the life and the way, he came to be the one who would pay the ransom that even the wealthiest of individuals could never pay, and he paid it by laying down his life for us, he paid it by taking the punishment and the wrath of God for us, he paid it by shedding his own life blood that we in exchange would be able to receive life everlasting.
The message that the psalmist proclaimed to all the world in this psalm those thousands of years ago, still needs to be proclaimed, it is still the same message, it has never changed and will never change, there is a way that seems right to mankind but it will lead to death, to everlasting destruction, but God has provided a new and a living way, he has provided all the means through the Lord Jesus Christ for our souls to be redeemed, and to put us on the road that leads to life everlasting.
To sum it up with the words of the apostle Paul, ‘By grace you have been saved. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.’ (Ephesians 2:8)
And this grace is a gift from God because he is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he has loved us. (Ephesians 2:4)
We have two choices, we do nothing and accept the fate that will fall to all unrepentant mankind and that is to face Hell, eternity separated from God’s amazing love, a place of eternal punishment, or come believing by faith in what the Lord Jesus Christ has done on our behalf, to know what it is to be redeemed because he has paid the ransom and to spend eternity in the presence of God.
I end this devotion with the first words of this psalm again, ‘Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world’ This is the message that I want you to hear and to receive through this devotion today, ‘God loves you, he gave his Son for you, his Son gave his life for you, there is hope for you for time and for eternity, and you can receive it if you give your life over to the Lord Jesus Christ.’ ‘There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’ (Acts 4:12)