Psalm 50:9-13
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. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? --
God is the Creator and Owner of everything that exists. He had Moses set up a complete sacrificial system for His people, to teach them that sin requires death, a payment of blood. But it is not for God's benefit; there is nothing He needs from us, because it all already belongs to Him.
When we pray, when we want to do something for God in response to what He has done for us, we need to remember that all the laws, all the rules, all the guidelines God gives us in His Word are for our benefit, not His. God wants us to live our lives in the knowledge that He is our source, the wellspring of life itself, and we depend on His bounty to meet all our needs. When we have that mind-set, then we will recognize all the good that God has given us, and be able to avoid what does not align with the Truth of our world or of the Heavens.
The rest of this Psalm is what God says to the wicked, and ends with:
Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me; and to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God (vs.22-23).
Even when people think that God is like they are, because He kept silence when they ignore what He said and do what they know is wrong (v.21), there is still hope for them. If you turn around your thinking processes to realize how God is providing for you, and thank Him; then turn your life around to order your way aright; then God will show Himself powerful to rescue you and you will be able to receive His blessings.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
