Dealing With Injustice - A Message From Psalm 49 Series

DEALING WITH INJUSTICE - A MESSAGE FROM PSALM 49

GOD WILL REDEEM MY SOUL FROM THE POWER OF SHEOL

A MESSAGE FROM PSALM 49 - A SERIES ON THE SONS OF KORAH

Ron Ferguson 16 June 2019

Many of the Psalms numbered in the 40s and in the 80s were written by “The Sons of Korah”. We will look at these marvellous Psalms, God willing, over a period of time. When I mentioned this to a fellow Christian, he said, “Weren’t the sons of Korah destroyed for offering strange fire to the Lord.” Very valid point! That caused me to go and search out who the sons of Korah were. In 2 Chronicles 20 v 19 this is written, “Then the Levites from the sons of the Kohathites and the Korahites stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel shouting with a loud voice.“ There we have it. There is a whole group of people known as the sons (or descendants) of Korah. Matthew Henry says of Psalm 49, “We seldom meet with a more solemn introduction: there is no truth of greater importance. Let all hear this with application to ourselves.” Turn to Psalm 49.

Psalm 49 For the choir director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

Psalm 49 v 1 Hear this, all peoples. Give ear, all inhabitants of the world, Psa 49:2 both low and high, rich and poor together. Psa 49:3 My mouth will speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart will be understanding. Psa 49:4 I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will express my riddle on the harp.

The psalmist has something to say. As this is God’s word, then he will say what the meditations are, that God has given him, and that is wisdom from God. This is different from us. We have meditations and thoughts, but they may be wrong, even though well intentioned. The Holy Spirit does lead us in wisdom and understanding, but we are not inspired to write scripture, so that what we write is not infallible and ultimate truth. That can only belong to those who wrote the scriptures. All peoples – and in verse 2 – all the low and high and rich and poor – are asked to hear. God wants the whole world to hear.

What we do have in common with the inspired writer is that God does give us messages to share. This is especially so in two areas of service I think. The first is for the preacher when he sets out the message God has given. In that regard, the man who has not waited on God for his help yet stands up and “gives a sermon” or “a lesson” or has taken messages from the internet and speaks those as his own, is just a pretense. The man who waits on God, meditates on God, meditates in God’s word, that is the man who will speak out the right message God has given.

The second area is in personal ministry. How often have you heard it said, “I don’t know what to say to him or her,” when you are to meet one who has suffered some tragedy in life. In that case you rely on the Holy Spirit to give you the words to say. The same applies to presenting the gospel to someone. Genuinely wait on God! Too many people think they have something to say, but they are full of hot air, and nothing more. Do you know what hot air was used for, and still is? In hot air balloons. Hot air makes them lightweights, and so too many in this world are puffed up like hot air balloons and are lightweights. Sadly some of those are found in pulpits also.

Psalm 49 v 5 Why should I fear in days of adversity, when the iniquity of my foes surrounds me, Psa 49:6 even those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the abundance of their riches? Psa 49:7 No man can by any means redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for him - Psa 49:8 for the redemption of his soul is costly, and he should cease trying forever - Psa 49:9 That he should live on eternally; that he should not undergo decay.

I want you to place yourselves in the middle of those 5 verses. Look around and what do you see? You will see as did the writer of the Psalm. Adversity is all around you. You notice those who trust in wealth and then boast about how much they have. In our studies in the Minor Prophets we saw how riches bring about complacency, and superiority, and pride and greed, and injustice, especially injustice, and every prophet in the Old Testament decried injustice. That is what we see in the world we live in. Injustice through wars caused by greed and power and selfishness and hate.