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"Human Wickedness"
Psalm 14
Good News Translation (GNT)
HEBREW TITLE:
"By David"
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1 Fools say to themselves, "There is no God!"
They are all corrupt, and they have done
terrible things; there is no one who does what
is right.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven at us
humans to see if there are any who are wise,
any who worship him.
3 But they have all gone wrong; they are all
equally bad. Not one of them does what is
right, not a single one.
4 "Don't they know?" asks the Lord. "Are all
these evildoers ignorant? They live by robbing
my people, and they never pray to me."
5 But then they will be terrified, for God is with
those who obey him.
6 Evildoers frustrate the plans of the humble,
but the Lord is their protection.
7 How I pray that victory will come to Israel from
Zion. How happy the people of Israel will be
when the Lord makes them prosperous again!
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Commentary taken from 'word-on-the-web'
supplied by Scripture Union
'Human Wickedness'
Psalm 14
Duplicated in Psalm 53, this psalm is about atheism in its most insidious form.
This is not the sort of atheism that genuinely wrestles with tough questions about a God who appears to permit suffering, natural disasters or biblical genocide.
This is a quiet, unobtrusive atheism that doesn't call attention to itself but nonetheless shapes the thinking, attitudes and actions of those who possess it.
The conclusion that 'there is no God' (v 1) means that potentially the self becomes both immediate and ultimate reality.
Narcissism has no room for God, but in truth 'we need God under our feet and in our lungs.
We need Creator and creatures and community. God is the great continent of reality on which we live'. 1
Denying God's existence and enthroning self affects relationships with others.
People can be seen as being there to meet our needs, to be used and treated as consumer goods (v 4).
In workplaces, families and neighbourhoods it is all too easy to manipulate or control others to help ourselves along the way.
Tragically, we can even affirm our belief in God whilst in our hearts something different is going on which spills over into the way we treat others.
The psalmist focuses upon those who are poor as being particularly vulnerable to being on the receiving end of this (v 6).
Their powerlessness leaves them wide open to being dismissed as inferior and treated accordingly.
All is not lost, however. God sees all (v 2) and continues to look for those who will respond to him.
God rescues those who are oppressed by others dismissive of his existence.
They can find refuge and hope in him (v 6).
The big-picture prayer at the end (v 7) anticipates the end of all such oppression and the coming of salvation and celebration.
1 Eugene H Peterson, Where Your Treasure Is, Eerdmans, 1993, p117
Other versions are available here
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