A Road Map for Life | Remembering Our Redeemer Sample

GETTING READY TO MEET THE JUDGE (Psalm 50)

To stand before a judge is a sobering thing (at least, that is what they tell me). But to stand before the Judge over all the earth and eternity is another thing altogether.

Whether you are frightened or joyful when you stand before this Judge has much to do with your relationship with Him; in Psalm 50, we are introduced to Him.

Verse 1: “The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.”

I love that thought. Every day belongs to the Lord, from beginning to end. Everything you have this day was given to you by God — life, health, strength, and breath.

Psalm 50 references not just any day but the day we stand before God.

Verse 2: “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.” This verse reminds us of I John 1:5, which says, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” We live in a dark world, but the Light is coming.

Verses 3-4: “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.”

This is a psalm of judgment, not just present judgment but also future judgment. It refers to the day when we will give an account of ourselves to God.

There are so many powerful thoughts here from the verses we just read.

“Our God shall come”: His appearance is definite.

“Shall not keep silence”: His word is final. He has been silent in the minds of many for so long, but one day, He will speak. And He has a lot to say.

“A fire shall devour before him”: According to I Corinthians 3:13, “The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” Some things will be reduced to ash, with nothing to show. All that lasts will be whatever can “abide the fire” (Numbers 31:23).

“It shall be very tempestuous round about him”: On the day that everyone stands before God, there will be many anxious hearts. That is certain.

The remainder of the psalm describes the people who will stand before Him, beginning with the saints in verses 5-15. You may think, “I am no saint.” But that is a word God uses to refer to those who have a relationship with Him. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you are seen by God as one of the saints, even if you are not living that way.

One day, all of the saints will stand before God at the Judgment Seat of Christ, where they will give an account of what they have done in their bodies and receive rewards for their works on this earth as believers. Praise God, our sin has already been cared for. We will not stand before the Lord for our sins but for our service.

You must trust Christ today if you are not yet one of these saints. If you are a believer, you should live and labor like it. Sometimes, we live so flippantly, and we must be reminded that this world is not all there is. There is more to come.

The Bible says in Romans 14:12, “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Psalm 50 describes the things the Lord will judge. He knows the sincerity of each person’s heart. We see this psalm referring to what God’s people have done regarding worship and how He looks at that. He will judge what was given to Him and why it was given.

In verses 16-22, we read about His judgment of the wicked. This is very sobering to me. Not only will believers give an account to the Lord for their service, but the wicked will stand before God to answer for their sins.

Those who have rejected the Lord Jesus as Savior and decided to deal with their own sin will one day have to face a holy and righteous God. You can push that to the back of your mind if you like, ignore it, or say it is not true, but let me remind you: “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence.”

Verse 22: “Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.” We are living in a world that has forgotten God. Crowding Him out by just watching or listening to something else is easy. One of these days, all of that will come to a screeching halt, and men will bow before a holy God.

During the pandemic of 2020, I was reminded how quickly everything can stop. It was amazing to see that happen all over the world. But that is nothing compared to how everything will stop when we stand before God.

I love how, in verse 23, the psalm ends on a jubilant note. “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.”

If you know the Judge and trust in Him, live for Him, and obey Him, you have nothing to fear. God’s people are hopeful. We look forward to our God coming and what He has to say.

In that final verse, the Lord essentially says, “Get ready to meet Me, and you will be happy to see Me.” With that in mind, here are two things we should do.

Offer praise. Give Him praise today. Someday, in His presence, that is what we will all be doing. But you don’t have to wait until then. If you do it now, it will help you keep an eternal perspective. Living in an attitude of praise will help you keep your eyes on God.

Order your conversation. What does that mean? Straighten up. Order your life, your decisions, and your priorities in light of eternity. God says that if you do that, He will meet your needs now, and you will also have much to look forward to on the day you stand before Him.

What a day it will be when we gather around the nail-pierced feet of Jesus around the throne of the eternal God. We know that God will speak, but what will He say about you, and what will you say when that time comes?

Let’s begin getting ready to meet the Judge.