Psalm 50:1-14: Never mind the bullocks

From Psalms

Psalm 50:1-14
(A psalm of Asaph)


¹The mighty God, even the LORD,
      hath spoken, and called the earth
      from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
²Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
      God hath shined.
³Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence:
      a fire shall devour before him,
      and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
⁴He shall call to the heavens from above,
      and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
⁵Gather my saints together unto me;
      those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
⁶And the heavens shall declare his righteousness:
      for God is judge himself.                                            Selah.

⁷Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
      O Israel, and I will testify against thee:
      I am God, even thy God.
⁸I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices
      or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
⁹I will take no bullock out of thy house,
      nor he goats out of thy folds.
¹⁰For every beast of the forest is mine,
      and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
¹¹I know all the fowls of the mountains:
      and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
¹²If I were hungry, I would not tell thee:
      for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
¹³Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
      or drink the blood of goats?
¹⁴Offer unto God thanksgiving;
      and pay thy vows unto the most High:

This, I am told, is a psalm of judgement.  1-3 we are told of the coming of God.  Something that should be a glorious anticipation of the children of God.  That is, if you are ready to be judged by God himself.  Verses 7-10 show us we may not be ready to be judged.

We may have been going to church, we may have been giving our sacrifices, our $20 on the plate, even volunteering at church.  Not that any of these things are bad - but if it's just going through the motions it won't mean anything to God.  What is any of that to God, anyway?  Does God want or need our money?  God wants us to build a relationship with him.  As the Sex Pistols (sort of) said never mind the bullocks (verse 9) God wants a relationship with you.  Clearly I added the last part, but you get the message.

So, let me get to what this has to with my addiction, lately.  I have been spending time, recently, doing things that put me at risk of losing my sobriety.  For example, even if I have sparkling water when I go out with the guys from work, just being at a bar puts me at risk.  There are finer lines with my sex addiction.  YouTube, as an example, does not host porn.  However, some of the videos there could very well put me at risk of losing my sexual sobriety.  At any rate, when I am involved in these gray areas I am certainly not building my relationship with God.  I am certainly not doing the will of God, as I vowed I would do when I completed my work in step three.  And doing his will, and building my relationship with God, is what I need to be doing instead.

Thanks for letting me share.