Psalm 53 Hearing the Word

Photo: Greg K. Dueker

This psalm is nearly identical to Psalm 14 which I covered a decade ago in a well-read post entitled, Wise Up! However, Psalm 53 has a different target audience. This version may be speaking the words of Psalm 14 to the nations outside Israel rather than the unbelievers within the nation. 

It has often been said that this is the verse to read on April 1 (since in the US, it is known as April Fool’s Day). However, it is too easy to relegate the message of this short psalm to “those other people”, the professed atheists, those who vehemently deny the existence and goodness of God. However, verse 5 suggests that while this psalm originally addressed those who were the enemies of God’s people, and promised not only that they would be utterly destroyed but that history would hold no honor for them as well (God will scatter their bones), the flavor of the psalm as a whole shows the pervasive corruption of humanity (v. 2-3). It should also be said that a "fool" in the biblical sense is not someone who is unintelligent but someone who rejects God and trusts in his own riches (see how this psalm follows 51 and 52).

This reminds me that both insiders and outsiders are in desperate need of God’s mercy and his grace.

In this reflection, I would like to bring verse 1 a little closer to each of us.

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
    They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
    there is none who does good.

Author Unknown

Now as believers in the triune God through faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ, we would never say that there is no God. Or would we? I find that whenever it is easy to point the finger at others I am in a dangerous position. When we read a Bible passage or hear a sermon preached, and our first thought is about how another person needs to hear and heed that message, then we have become self-deceived. Instead, in the spirit of ophthalmic log removal (Matt. 7:3-5; Luke 6:41-42), we should internalize the application before projecting it on others. If it is the Holy Spirit’s job to bring a conviction of sin, then we should listen to what he is saying about the condition of our hearts instead of quickly trying to take the devil’s job and accuse others.

What is good and pure in us comes from God not out of our inherent virtue. When we deny the existence of God, or at least the authority of God over our life we cut ourselves off from the great good, understanding, and lovingly wise plan God has in His heart for us. In verse one, we see that the fool denies the existence of God and also find a description of behavior that takes place when humanity denies the existence, power, presence, and goodness of God.

If I were to “bring this verse home,” letting it read my life, instead of projecting its message onto others, I would say that when I sin, it is in moments of practical atheism. When I don’t take the powerfully wise and loving presence of the One True God into consideration I fall into the gravitational pull of self and begin to sin in my attitudes, actions, and inactions. Further, despite my amazing ability to downplay the intensity of my iniquity, my sin brings death and contagious corruption on so many levels. When I don’t walk in relationship with Jesus Christ I quickly fall to the place where the psalmist’s words describe me, and in truth all of us, “They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good.”

Anytime that we sin, we are either practical atheists or we are denying the omni-s of his divine nature.

• Omniscient—God is all-knowing. There is no subject in which he needs us to educate him. No area of our lives is hidden from his sight—and yet he still loves us. We don’t need to make excuses because they would never work since He knows our motivation better than we do. Yet, all this knowledge is not abstract and distanced but relational and tender. That leads us to the next point.
• Omnipresent—God is present everywhere. There is nowhere we can go without him being there ahead of us (Psalm 139). We can’t hide from his care, nor are we ever alone and unnoticed. Because He is there all the time, He sees and remembers every kind word we have said, or loving service done for others, even when it seems that no one noticed.
• Omnipotent—God is all-powerful. There is nothing too hard for him. He is no genie in a bottle following rules for wishes. He created everything that exists and holds the nations in the palm of his hands like so much dust on a scale (Isa. 40:12-17). What is our need when compared to his greatness? He is the giver of all good gifts (James 1:17)!

Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash

When tempted to sin, we make God small and distant in our perception. We try to keep him at a safe distance. That allows us to rationalize that he doesn’t know everything and doesn’t understand our situation, or that He isn’t present here and now in our circumstances, and that he either doesn’t have the power to fix our situation or doesn’t care to do so. And above all these misperceptions is the one that denies that we are loved, cherished, and valued by the Father, Son, and Spirit.

We do not need to make a name for ourselves, for any effort at self-glory damages everything it touches. We do not need to maintain our own “kingdoms” of perceived control for it is only the kingdom of God that is of lasting value. The good news is that deliverance, lasting liberty, and pervasive peace come from the Lord, in whom the psalmist put his hope in verse 6,

"Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!

 When God restores the fortunes of his people,

                              let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad."

They longed for salvation and trusted that it would come. This salvation to which the psalmist's community looked forward was fulfilled in Jesus... just not necessarily the way they might have thought.

Jesus, the Messiah of God, came and brought salvation that was deeper and wider than expected. It was not for one nation or ethnicity only but for the whole world (Isa. 49:5-6).

In my opinion, the fool of Psalms 14 and 53 is the person who trusts in themselves and refuses to allow their eyes to be opened to the brilliant work of God on their behalf. I am reminded of a passage in the New Testament that connects with this sentiment and offers an invitation.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:8-10)

Only when we can confess our inability to be all that we should be and when we can sorrowfully see the pain our actions have caused (to others and ourselves) will we draw near to God in desperate humble faith and hear him welcome us home, forgiven, in overflowing love.

I could say that this is a message that others need to hear, but I am thankful that the Spirit knows what I need to hear as he searches my heart, honest to God! Join me as we listen together! 

 

Psalm 14:4-6 "Wise Up!"

Psalm 14:4-6

Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
    who eat up my people as they eat bread
    and do not call upon the Lord?

There they are in great terror,
    for God is with the generation of the righteous.
You would shame the plans of the poor,
    but the Lord is his refuge.

Comments:

This psalm is part wisdom psalm and partly a lament. There is another almost identical psalm (53) that we will consider later (if I pick up the pace a little). I have always focused on the first two verses that set out the perspectives of the fool who, “says in his heart, ‘There is no God'” (v.1) and that of the Lord who, “looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.” (v.2)

However, ...today I will ponder v.4-6. It is almost as if the psalmist is beside himself in consternation. I don’t mean the ironic “I could have had a V8!” head-slapping moment, but a deep cry of “Don’t-they-get-it” agony from the heart of his compassionate frustration. They not too metaphorically devour the psalmist’s/God’s people like bread instead of entering into a relationship with the Giver of the Bread from Heaven. They come together only in their corruption…a mocking of relational unity.

It should be noted that “the fool” is not unintelligent, but one who lives as though there was no God who has entered into a covenant relationship of love with the poor. In reading the late Peter Craigie’s rather technical commentary on Psalms I was surprised by this wonderfully affective insight,

“The fool is one whose life is lived without the direction or acknowledgment of God. Thus the precise opposite of fool and folly is not wise man and wisdom; the opposite of folly in the wisdom literature is lovingkindness [hesed]…That is to say, the fool is defined by the absence of lovingkindness…”[1]

There is an extended section that is present in some Greek manuscripts between v. 2 & 3 that is actually quoted in Romans 3:13-18

“Their throat is an open grave;
    they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
   “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
    in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Such verses only serve to emphasize the lack of hesed (lovingkindness) on the part of the fool. 

So often we tend to direct our thinking about wisdom along the "judging/discerning rightly" track. However, if Craigie is right, then perhaps wisdom is neither easily isolated from the heart’s response to the love of God, nor from the hand of mercy extended to one another!

In Psalm 14:5 we see that the fools’ plans fail to satisfy them, but instead, leave them in a state of terror even as they seek to terrorize others. Why is this? Because they don’t understand that though the righteous poor may be consumed, they are not cowed for the Lord is their refuge. The powerful fool cannot steal the hope of the Lord’s people…and it threatens the fool’s own corrupted worldview. It isn't wise to shame the poor…ever. Not just because God is their defender, but because wise people are full of lovingkindness!

One other comment about unity from this psalm…it makes it clear that we all have gone astray and become corrupt…which means we all need the same mercy of God.

We cannot say that such bad behavior and heart attitudes only apply to “those people” or the out-group de jour. I am reminded of that well-used parental proverb, “When you point the finger at someone else, you are pointing three back at yourself!” It is only because “salvation has come out of Zion” through the costly grace of Jesus Christ, that any of us stray dogs can claim to be the people of God. Paul makes no bones about this for after quoting from this psalm he stated,

For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. (Romans 3:22-25)

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[1] Peter C. Craigie, Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 1-50 (Waco, TX: Word, 1983) 147.