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Psalm 49 - Wisdom from above

Summary
v1-4 Hear the wisdom of God
v5-20 The outcome for those without wisdom

Hear the wisdom of God
The Psalm begins with this call for people to hear the wisdom of God, and to pay close attention to it, regardless of status.

The outcome for those without wisdom
This section begins with a boast of confidence in God that there is no trouble that should overcome the author, or any iniquity or enemy that can cause him to fear.

Here also comes one reference to Christ

 Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit.

 I kind of read this to mean that no one can redeem himself - and we are justified only by God's grace, through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Which brings me to this discussion we had on Wednesday night - that we often use the phrase "justified by faith alone". And interestingly, the only (as far as I know!) time these 2 words faith and alone are found together in the Bible, is in James - where he writes faith that is alone is dead. Contradictory much? Honestly, no. Has to be read in context. But it isn't helped by our repeated usage of the phrase faith alone.

A friend suggested a better term would be the one used in Romans - that we are justified by faith apart from works of the law. This actually means the same thing as by faith alone! Just that this is taken directly out of the Bible and less confusing.

Okay, back to passage. The next part just states kind of the obvious - that even the wise die, and they are called to the grave eventually. I guess the takeaway is that we need to look way beyond the temporal and into the eternal.

The next section says that this is the path for those who have chosen evil. They are appointed with death as their shepherd to Sheol. In contrast, God ransoms the author - the word ransom used for the second time in this Psalm, in contrast to no man being able to ransom himself or others. Again, a rather clear pointer to Christ.

The last couple of verses just kind of summarize this Psalm - do not be afraid of those who have power or wealth, for when they will bring nothing into eternity - though they are blessed now, in days to come they will face judgement - those who pride themselves now will perish.

Takeaway
I think there are 2 points.

1. Not to be oppressed by riches or power or worldly wisdom. There's really no need to be envious or afraid or whatnot because these are really temporal. It's a very hard lesson to learn. I guess we all want things that we can see and enjoy now but truly it is that these things don't last. We have to learn to look further than that.

2. To be on guard against our own pride, our own power, and our own wisdom. Because as much as we shun those who abuse these things, we are equally in danger of becoming these people as well. We need to be set on eternal things and not be prideful in ourselves. For we too cannot ransom ourselves, but have been ransomed by Christ's death on the cross

Personal stuff
Realise the things I wrote yesterday may be a little misleading. Things are... Well still rather messy. Hopefully it'll clear up soon...
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