Daily Devotion – February 8, 2021 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Psalm 50:1-6
50:1 The mighty one, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
50:2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
50:3 Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.
50:4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
50:5 “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
50:6 The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah
Psalm 50 paints a picture of a God who is busy doing things. This God is not just watching from a distance. This God is striding through the land, following a devouring fire and surrounded by a whirlwind. There is action everywhere!
Look at the action verbs associated with God in these six short verses. God:
Speaks
Summons
Shines
Comes
Does not keep silence
Calls
Judges
In the 21st century, we mainline Christians demonstrate time and again we don’t think God is up to very much at the present time. When we speak of God, God is more often the object of a verb or preposition than the subject of an action verb, the doer of the action in a sentence. I know this because I did verbal interview research in church bodies for almost 30 years. God is hardly even mentioned. I did one study that actually asked people questions about church, faith, and God (by name), and in 35,000 words, God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit were mentioned just 88 times.
But if Psalm 50 was ever true, it is surely true now. God is, was, and ever shall be. And God is, was, and ever shall be acting. So just now and again, let us try speaking of God in a sentence where God is actually doing something. Because God IS actually doing something. Now.
Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for doing action verbs like calling, summoning, shining, and asking us to pay attention. Help us to pay attention to what you are doing, please. Amen.
