God Will Tear You In Pieces

Psalm 50

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

2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.

3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.

4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.

5 Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.

7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.

8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.

9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.

10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.

13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

16 But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?

17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and casteth my words behind thee.

18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.

20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son.

21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.

22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

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Upon reading this Psalm, we’re immediately captivated by the awesomeness of God (v. 1-2). But right after that a fiery, tempestuous God hits us with some hard, heart-shaking truth in an endeavor to keep us from heading down the wrong tracks too long.

Interestingly, it’s the love of God that draws us to Him in Christ; but equally so, it’s the fiery, tempestuous aspect of God that steers us away from the train wreck we would create if left to our own inclinations.

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I’ve read this Psalm before. But this time, it had a unique impact on me. It shook me as I read how God lays out His thoughts concerning His people and those that are not.

He specifically expresses some pretty hard words of … love … in the hope of diverting the unsaved from the eternal train wreck to which they are headed:

“Now consider this, ye that forget God {the unsaved}, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.”

I don’t know what that does to you. It rattles my cage. That is very strong language by God. And it’s not just hyperbole. It’s actual, factual reality. God means what He says and says what He means.

Can you picture God tearing people to pieces? It makes me wonder if it’s verses like this that cause us to shy away from the “Old Testament” God while seeking to rebrand Him as a more presentable, palatable God.

Not sure?

The next time you have the opportunity, tell someone that God is going to tear them to pieces if they reject Him and His Son. Admittedly, I cringe at the thought of saying that.

But … surprisingly … God doesn’t seem to have any problem with it. Doesn’t He realize that’s not a good soul-winning technique?

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We don’t need to rebrand, reshape, rethink, reformat, reform God into anything other than He is … “The mighty God, even the Lord.”

He is God and He is Lord. He is the God that will tear you to pieces. That is how He presents Himself “from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.” That’s the God the unsaved need to hear about.

God the Creator has imbeded Himself into our very nature. His “residual” effect is always running in the background of unsaved humanity. The lost folks we bump into everyday inherently know this and, I have to believe, are waiting for someone to give them the straight truth, not a reconstituted substitute.

Evidently, the great New England preacher Jonathan Edwards understood that. Why else would he have entitled his famous sermon as:

Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

Edwards could have just as easily entitled his sermon: God Will Tear You To Pieces.

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When we rebrand God in the hopes of alleviating a painful encounter with those we preach to/talk to, we do irreparable harm — not only to our own spiritual growth but to the potential damning of the lost.

I’m reminded of Paul’s departing words to the elders of the church at Ephesus in Acts 20:27 —

“For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.”

We need to declare unto the unsaved all the counsel of God concerning their eternal destiny. It’s not easy, it won’t be easy, but … it will show them the love of God through us.

I’m glad someone was willing to do that for me. You are too, I’m sure.

Amen!

{Thank you Omar}