Sunday Scripture

 

We're continuing with our ongoing series on my simple study of Psalms.  You can see a copy of the journal here: The Book of Psalms 1-50 or you can find all the resources right here on Women Living Well, Psalms 1-50.  I'm attempting to SOAP each Psalm too, though some of them are longer so I will likely only do a selected passage from many of them. [Quick reminder that S stands for Scripture; O stands for for observation; A stands for application, and P stands for prayer.]  Each psalm's study also includes a reflection question, which I will attempt to journal an answer to.  Today's study is from Psalm 14.   There are just seven verses, and I chose to SOAP verses 1-4.  Here goes:

S= "The fool has said in his heart,  There is no God.  They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. 
"The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
"They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
"Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge?  Who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD."  (Psalm 14:1-4)

O= The biblical heading for this psalm is "To the chief Musician, A psalm of David."  C.I. Scofield has titled Psalm 14 "A portrait of the godless."

David is definitely presenting a picture of the godless.  In verse 1 he describes them as 

• fools who say in their hearts that there is no God

• corrupt

• having done abominable things

• doing no good

David then pictures God as looking down upon humanity from heaven to see if there are any who understand their need to seek Him.

Verse 3 describes what God sees from His lofty vantage point:

• They are all gone aside

• They have altogether become filthy

• There are none that do good.

David describes them as 

-- workers of iniquity

-- who have no knowledge

-- who devour people as they would bread

-- who don't call upon the name of the Lord.

The wording of Psalm 14 is very close, nearly identical, to that of Psalm 53. 

Warren Wiersbe notes that this psalm presents a contrast between the generation of the wicked and the generation of the righteous, with the first group described at the beginning of the psalm, and the second group made up of those who've trusted the Lord and seek to know Him and His will.

Wiersbe sees the second group in verses 5-7, so I will show you those verses even though I'm not actually SOAPing them:

"There that are in great fear, for God is with the righteous.  You shame the counsel of the poor, but the LORD is his refuge.  Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!  When the LORD brings back the captivity of His people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad."

Cross-references for "fool" (v.1) -- "Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed Thy name. " (Psalm 74:18)

"Arise, O LORD, plead Thine own cause; remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily."  (Psalm 74:22)

We see Job describing his wife as this sort of a fool:  "Then said [Job's] wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity?  Curse God, and die.  But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.  What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?  In all this did not Job sin with his lips."  (Job 2:9-10)

Cross-reference for "there is no God" (v.1) -- "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God; God is not in all his thoughts."  (Psalm 10:4)

Cross-references for "corrupt" (v.1) -- "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."  (Genesis 6:5)

"The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.  And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted His way upon the earth."  (Genesis 6:11-12)

"There is none that doth good" (v.1) is cited in Romans 3:10 -- "As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one."

Cross-reference for "looked down from heaven" (v.2) -- "For He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth."  (Psalm 102:19)

"Understand" (v.2) may also be read "act wisely".

Cross-reference for "understand" -- "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God" (Romans 3:11)

Cross-references for "seek God" (v.2) -- "Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you, while ye are with Him; and if ye seek Him, He will be found by you; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you."  (2 Chronicles 15:2)

"Nevertheless, there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the idols out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God."  (2 Chronicles 19:3)

Cross- reference for "they are all gone aside" (v.3) -- "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."  (Romans 3:12)

Cross-reference for "filthy" (v.3) -- "How much more abominable and filthy is man, who drinketh iniquity like water!"  (Job 15:16)

Cross-references for "knowledge" (v.4) -- "They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are out of course."  (Psalm 82:5)

"For my people are foolish; they have not known Me.  They are stupid children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge."  (Jeremiah 4:22)

Cross-references for "who eat up my people" (v.4) -- "There is a generation, whose teeth are like swords, and their jaw teeth like knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men."  (Proverbs 30:14)

"Pour out thy fury upon the nations that know Thee not, and upon the families that call not on Thy name; for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate."  (Hebrews 10:25)

"Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail."  (Amos 8:4)

"When the wicked, even mine enemies, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell."  (Psalm 27:2)

Cross-references for "call not upon the LORD" (v.4) -- "Pour out Thy wrath upon the nations that have not known Thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon Thy name."  (Psalm 79:6)

"And there is none that called upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee; for Thou hast hidden Thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities."  (Isaiah 64:7)

A= The person who says in their heart that there is no God is a fool indeed.This psalm has so many similarities to Romans 3!

Wiersbe points out that this Psalm pictures both the generation of the wicked and the generation of the righteous.  He notes that the generation of the wicked "is composed of people who are 'practical atheists'.  God is not in their hearts, no matter what they may say and do outwardly.  They can live without God!  They disobey God and exploit people made in the image of God. They are corrupt and so they do corrupt things."

Concerning the generation of the righteous, Wiersbe notes that these people call on the LORD "and He answers (v.4).  God dwells with these people (v.5), protects them (v.6) and gives them joyful hope (v.7).  This group may not be large, but it is precious to God, and the future of God's program rests with it."

Wiersbe asks, "Of which group are you a member?  Have you made your allegiance known?"

My thoughts: I'm in the "generation of the righteous", thanks to Jesus' substitutionary death.  If not for His unspeakable sacrifice on my behalf, I would be in the generation of the wicked.  Yes, people know of my allegiance to God and His people.

I'm so thankful that God brought me to the place of understanding the futility of life apart from Him.

P= Lord, how I praise You for drawing me to Yourself and for saving me.  How I praise You that You dwell with me, protect me, lead and guide me, and give me joyful hope every day!  I can confidently call to You in times of need, knowing that You hear and answer.  I cannot praise and thank You enough for bringing me into "the generation of the righteous".  Help me to be a light to those who don't yet know you.  I thank You in Jesus' name, Amen.

Reflection question: David reflects on those who reject God and calls them fools.  It's interesting to note where they deny God -- it's in their hearts.  Verse 2 says the Lord is looking down from heaven to see if there are any who seek Him.  

We may have a lot of intellectual knowledge about God but ultimately our decisions are made by the loves and passions of our hearts.  How is your heart today?  Is it seeking God or seeking pleasure -- and how can you align your heart with the heart of God?

My response:  I too found it very interesting that it's their hearts where fools deny the existence of God.  My heart is to seek God rather than pleasure, but of course there are those times when other things get in the way.

It seems to me that the best way to align my heart with God's heart would be to be sure I'm spending quality time in His Word and in prayer, communicating with Him and getting to know his His heart.

And there is our study of Psalm 14.  I hope it was a blessing!