Psalm 50:14 Offer to God thanksgiving; and pay your vows to the most High: 1. "Offer unto God thanksgiving." For what? "In everything give thanks." The propriety of this is seen at once when we consider that we owe everything to God. It is impossible, without a due acknowledgment of this, to appreciate our dependence upon and obligation to Him, "in whom we live, and move, and have our being." 2. But our text enjoins us "to pay our vows unto the Most High." 3. "And call upon God in the day of trouble." Our fathers had their troubles, and we shall have ours. They may arise from sources anticipated or unanticipated; for the former we may to some degree prepare, or even, perhaps, by prudent forethought and action in some cases prevent; for the latter, we can only patiently wait upon God who sees and knows all things, and with whom is all wisdom and power. No intelligent observer can be unaware of serious dangers that threaten our God-given heritage. "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." We think our cherished institutions well guarded in citadels of truth and righteousness, and if all who man the citadels are reliable and faithful, it is certain that no foes without can harm, for the God in whom we trust will never suffer the righteous to be confounded or finally overcome. And we must trust in Him for the protection and defence of all that is right; and we must, if we would be safe and secure, look to Him for wisdom to devise and strength to execute all our purposes in His fear. 4. "And thou shalt glorify Me." Not "make Him glorious," as if to imply that we can add anything to His glory that ever was, is, and ever shall be complete in itself beyond any comparison; but "show forth His glory," by acknowledging it in our hearts, pro claiming it with our lips, exhibiting our regard for it in our lives, and diffusing it all abroad by the exertion of all our ransomed powers and possible energies in His service for the good of all within the range of our influence. For this we were created, for this we are preserved, and when we are told that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, we are exhorted "therefore" to "glorify God in our bodies and our spirits, which are His." (J. T. Ward, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:WEB: Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Pay your vows to the Most High. |
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