Read: Psalm 50

In Psalm 50 God called the Israelites together to listen to him. God was not happy with the way they were bringing their sacrifices. They were acting as though God needed their sacrifices, as though he couldn’t do without them. So God reminded them that he didn’t need their offerings. Everything belonged to him already. The cattle, the birds, the wild beasts, they were all the Lord’s. Rather, the sacrifices were to teach the people about salvation through Jesus Christ. The sacrifices all pointed forward to Christ.

And so the people had to offer their sacrifices, not thinking that God needed them, but in thankfulness for God’s love and forgiveness.

We can sometimes forget that everything belongs to the Lord, and so we think that we can use our money and time for ourselves as long as we just put some money in the collection or just give some of our time to the Lord. But we need to remember that everything is the Lord’s already: all our money, and all our time and all our things. Every second of every day belongs to the Lord and must be used to serve him.

But this is so hard to do, isn’t it? So often we make a big mess of our lives and spend a lot more time sinning than serving the Lord. And that’s why it is also beautiful to read what the Lord tells the Israelites in verse 15: “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” Trouble here means when we are sad because of our sins. When our sins trouble us, we must pray to God and then he will deliver us. This means he will forgive us. Christ has died on the cross, and when we call to God for forgiveness, he will certainly give it to us.

Then, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can glorify God. We can use our days, our time and our money to serve the Lord.

Reflection with your child:

What does it mean to you that everything belongs to the Lord?