So we’re going to have two attempts at this particular psalm. In about nine months, it will appear almost word-for-word as Psalm 53. Seriously! Look it up!
For Round One, let’s start with the seriously quotable opening line: The fool says in his heart, there is no God. Following on from our evangelism discussion on Sunday: Yes, you could use it in an attempt to prove a point to your atheist friends. But no, I don’t think you’d be proving the point you were hoping for…
One of the things that really interests me about this psalm is how David intertwines three concepts: the foolishness of denying who God is (v1), fear (v5) and corruption (v3). It seems to me that they’re attitudes that reinforce each other: those who refuse to acknowledge God end up fearful of the world because how can you be anything but fearful without the God of the universe holding you in His hands? Then fear drives so much of our sin, especially against other people. And the more we sin, somehow the more impossible it becomes to acknowledge that there is a God who has a right to judge our behavior. But that circular system only breaks at one point: acknowledging who God is. It’s really ineffective to tell other people (or ourselves!), ‘Stop being fearful!’ or ‘Stop sinning!’ But we might just have a chance if our call is, ‘Look to Jesus: He’s God-revealed!’
And that’s the point where David ends up: prophetically hoping for salvation…
– Karyn Lochore