The Fool Says There Is No God (Romans 3:9-20; Psalm 53:1-6)
For the choirmaster. Of David.
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their acts are vile. There is no one who does good. (The Hebrew words rendered fool throughout the Psalms denote one who is morally deficient.)
The LORD looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if any understand, if any seek God. All have turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon the LORD. There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is in the company of the righteous. You sinners frustrate the plans of the oppressed, yet the LORD is their shelter.
Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come from Zion! When the LORD restores His captive people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad!“
Throughout the world, people worship God in various ways. Most people groups believe in a Supreme Being; however, the attributes of these gods vary. Here David complains about those who deny the existence of God as being morally deficient. Why? Because anyone who denies the existence of God is establishing himself or herself as the god of his/her life and is demonstrating absolute foolishness in the process.
“The LORD looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if any understand, if any seek God. All have turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” God is as close as our heart beats, and yet many people refuse to acknowledge Him. In turning away from God, these people leave themselves open to corruption and become increasingly evil.
“Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon the LORD. There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is in the company of the righteous. You sinners frustrate the plans of the oppressed, yet the LORD is their shelter.” Evil blinds people so that they become progressively worse. The oppressed and vulnerable are the natural prey for evil ones. But God is still on the throne, and God can overwhelm the evil ones with dread.
“Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come from Zion! When the LORD restores His captive people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad!“ What captive people is David describing? At the time David wrote this psalm, the Israelites were subject to attack from all sides. Although we remember King Saul for his evil deeds, Saul did fight valiantly for Israel against surrounding tribes. Now David is begging God to show Himself mighty and to deliver Israel from all its enemies.
APPLICATION: Thanks to satellite TV, we can get several international channels. There are many programs such as “Unsolved Mysteries” or “Ancient Aliens,” or “The Scariest Night of My Life.” All these programs have one thing in common: They refuse to acknowledge the presence of God and focus on all kinds of bizarre happenings, including occult activities. Highly educated people come on these programs, purporting all kinds of bizarre ideas about visitors from other planets, the lost city of Atlantis, and the religious rituals of ancient people that even involved human sacrifice. But throughout these programs, there is no mention of God; instead, there are all kinds of other weird theories.
Why are these programs so popular? The temptation is the thrill of hidden ancient knowledge that might have nothing to do with God. Such programs hold out the possibility that people can be their own gods without any need for the Lord God of the Universe.
As a child, I was fascinated by archaeology and I also read everything I could about Native Americans and their culture. I understand the appeal of these programs, and I am not rejecting them out of hand. Whether or not you should watch such programs is your choice, but you need to ask yourself why such things fascinate you and their possible spiritual effects. We all have a limited amount of time in our lives. We need to invest that time as wisely as possible. If we focus on media that denies the existence of God, our passion for God will slowly die. Choose wisely!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to be wise in our choice of entertainment, including the books we read and the media we watch. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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