Psalm 49

The God of Israel is not merely the God of a small part of the world. Though He chose Israel to be His own nation, He is the Creator of all, and He has a message for the nations, the Gentiles, even in the Old Testament. He calls all the inhabitants of the world to hear His voice.

Among all the people that have inhabited this planet, and among all the nations that have had their moment under the sun, some have been high above the rest, and others have been low. Yet the Lord God Almighty is above everyone and everything. He is able to take the lowliest and lift him up, and He can take the mightiest and cast him down. Everyone, everywhere, should listen to what he has to say to the nations.

He breathes out His message to the world through people who speak His Word. Their mouths speak, but it is God who raises them up to be His ambassadors for that moment. People have claimed to speak for God who have not really spoken His Word. The true servant of the Lord speaks the wisdom of God. Not that such a man is anything in himself. God is the Almighty One, and He has chosen to speak through His servants. He has further chosen to record some of their words as the permanent record of His speech in the Scriptures.

When Jesus, the Son of God, came as the ultimate Prophet, He opened His mouth with proverbs. He understood the riddle-speech that He was called to give to Israel, but many who heard His voice did not comprehend His message. It was only to His close circle of disciples that He explained the meaning of His words, and even they had great difficulty discerning what He was really saying.

The Word of God Incarnate came speaking the speech of God. If that voice of God is to be received, the hearer needs the Spirit of the living God within him. God's Word is the greatest wisdom, but many reject it as foolishness. We want to incline our ears to the Word of God, and so we ask God to give us ears from heaven, so that we can comprehend and embrace His heavenly Word.

There are aspects of life in this current age that should trouble everyone deeply. Troubles are real. Cheaters are ready to deceive. Those who trust in what can be stolen from them can lose in a moment the way of life that once supported their personal well-being. But when the worshipers of God daily hear the Word, it is fresh air for our hearts and minds. Then we remember again that we do not need to live in fear of what might happen today, and we do not need to be seething with anger at what someone did to us yesterday.

There is a place for a fear that keeps us from irresponsible and useless dangers. There is also a place for anger that leads us to prayer and appropriate words and actions. Yet we all know that fear and anger can easily get out of hand. When we remember the Almighty God, His perfect love casts out fear, and His promised perfect justice and grace turn us away from our overzealous anger.

The man who has rejected the Word of God does not have this refuge that restores sanity to the Lord's people. His sense of well-being is grossly exaggerated. He may be counting on his wealth. How secure is that? How will he stand before God when he has spurned the Lord's way of grace? Who will bail him out of God's jail? Who will be this man's ransom when he continues to scoff at Jesus?

God has provided a ransom for us in Christ. Jesus does for us what no amount of wealth could ever do. What is the price of your life? What is the debt of your offense against God? What is the bill for your eternal life? Who will provide the ransom for the man who has rejected the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and who has supplied the perfect righteousness that God requires? All men go to the grave. How will the man live forever who has rejected the Word of the Man who rose from the dead as the Firstborn of many brethren?

The wisest and the wealthiest men still die one day. This is a fact. They may have estates with special names, but that will not rescue them from the grave. As the beast of the field falls, so will the owner of thousands of heads of cattle. He too perishes. What will his sense of confidence do for him then if he has rejected true forgiveness that comes through the life and death of Jesus Christ?

Yet people who are too wise to humbly receive God's wisdom still hang on to their small piece of harmony to the very end. When their possessions go to someone else, people left behind are still foolishly talking about them as if they had it all. Were they really great winners? The most wretchedly poor man who had an ear for the speech of God is infinitely better off than the richest man who dismissed the Word of the Lord to his dying breath. The proud man has death for an eternal shepherd. Better the poor man who hears the voice of the Good Shepherd and lives.

When Jesus came to die as the Lamb of God, He did so trusting and knowing that His Father would not forever abandon Him to the grave. This one Man of Resurrection is the salvation of the one who will hear His voice.

The story of life and death is all around us for our obvious observation. Man, even the richest man, cannot keep himself alive forever. If He dies without understanding, he is like the beast that perishes. But we have a secure hope in Jesus Christ. Let the nations hear this Word, and let people everywhere rejoice in the true God. He has provided a ransom for us in His Son.