God is Still There

A survey by Barna and the Cultural Research Center (CRC) of AZ Christian University in 2020 indicated that most Americans (7 of 10) believe mankind is “basically good” – and this percentage was the same even among those who identified as evangelical Christians.

The CRC noted that responses were likely based more on personal feelings than on facts, noting that people having a biblical worldview were more likely to disagree with the statement, viewing mankind as basically bad instead.

What about you? Do you believe people are basically good but make mistakes sometimes? Or do you believe people are basically bad and need God to rescue them?

From this psalm, we will gain God’s perspective about the condition of mankind. We will affirm that though all people turn away from God by nature, those who trust in him can have hope about the future.

To the lead musician, from David.

This opening line describes this psalm as a song for the music leader to include in regular worship of God at the Temple. It also identifies King David as the person who wrote it. Beyond this, we know nothing else about when or why it was written.

People do bad things because they believe wrong things about God. (Psa 14:1)

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God”:

they behave corruptly and perform abominable acts;

there is none who does good.

What is denial? A river in Egypt! That’s a pretty bad joke, right?

Well, what is denial? It’s refusing to accept a plainly obvious truth. This psalm speaks about the denial of one plainly obvious truth – the existence and authority of God.

Technically, this psalm doesn't call out atheism - the denial of any god - but rather calls out the denial of the one, true God. I say this because the correction of this psalm calls out those who worship other gods as well, not just those who worship no god at all. This point is important since it would only be useful in response to outright atheism otherwise, but the audience for this psalm is much wider.

David expresses amazement that anyone would deny the existence of the one, true God. By calling such persons a fool, he suggests in very straightforward and undiplomatic terms that to deny this basic, crucial reality (that the one true God exists, and we must answer to him) is senseless and stupid. Denying the existence and authority of the one true God makes as much sense as:

Denying the Earth is round.

Denying the moon exists (claiming it’s merely a hologram).

Denying the Holocaust happened.

By abandoning God in his heart, such a person abandons even the most basic form of common sense, for there is no other reasonable, plausible explanation not only for how our universe and everything in it came into being, but how it continues to exist both in such intricate detail and on such a massive scale.

In another psalm, David observes this reality from the natural world (Psa 19:1-3):

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

Paul makes a similar observation (Rom 1:19-20):

What may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

This psalm does not portray people as being helplessly ignorant or naïve, as people who don’t know important things because they’re not aware of them. No, this psalm portrays people as being deliberately and willingly ignorant, choosing to deny what is blatantly obvious – that God exists and that we must answer to him. Everyone knows this, whether they exist in civilized society or in the remotest jungles and islands.

Next David points out that this internal belief (or lack of belief) manifests itself through a person’s outward actions and behavior – such persons do things they would never do had they believed in the existence and reality of God.

Zoo animals in the open behave differently than those behind one-way glass.

Undisciplined children behave differently based on whether their parents are nearby.

Students behave differently depending on whether their teacher is in the classroom.

People drive differently due to whether a police officer or video camera is in the vicinity.

That’s what David means. When people deny the existence of God – the one, true God who made us and to whom we must answer – we behave in destructive, repulsive ways.

This reminds me of that basic principle of human behavior, that a person will act out the thoughts she thinks. “As he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov 23:7). As human beings, our actions reveal what we think about God. In that sense, our behavior reveals our true theology. In other words, our behavior is a more accurate reflection of what we believe about God than any amount of words in a written doctrinal statement, than any number of books we may sing, or than whichever church of which we choose to be a member.

You can say you love your family, but if you don’t spend time with them or treat your family members with love and respect, then you don’t love your family as much as you claim. This dynamic applies to many other situations in life in which our actions don’t line up with our words. We say we believe one thing, but our actions disagree.

So yes – our actions speak louder (or more accurately) than our words. Do your daily actions, choices, and habits reveal a strong belief that God exists and that you must answer to him, or do they reveal that you don’t take God’s existence and authority very seriously at all? Are you living as though God is not really there?

Now, the remarkable thing here is not only that anyone would deny the reality of God but that everyone– by nature – does just that. It’s not just a select group of people who reject him, a small percentage of Earth’s population, it’s everyone. Everyone, by nature, denies the existence of the one, true God. For that reason, this psalm describes us as being senseless, stupid, and severely lacking in understanding. That’s what being a fool means.

From God’s perspective, everyone rejects him completely. (Psa 14:2-3)

Yahweh from the heavens looks down on the children of mankind,

to see if there is any who understands –

who seeks a relationship with God.

Here the psalm shifts perspective from surveying people horizontally on Earth to God looking down on people from the heavens. God is looking down on all people, both actually looking down at them and figuratively “looking down” on them. Ironic, right? When God looks down at people, he sees them looking down on him when they should be looking up for him.

The psalm also shifts from a more general reference to God (Elohim) to a personal reference (Yahweh), revealing that something more specific than the rejection of any god is in view. This is a psalm about mankind’s very personal and specific rejection of the one, true God who created all things in the beginning, who governs all things in the present, and who will judge and restore all things in the end.

This psalm envisions God as looking or searching for people “who understand,” much like a biologist searches for subatomic elements in a microscope or when an astronomer searches for new stars and galaxies through a telescope.

When I attend a MLB game or watch one online, I look for people in the stadium who are wearing New York Mets gear and they are frequently there. When I lived in Queens, I could go to a Lids® hat store and choose from many styles of Mets caps, but when I search for a Mets cap at Scheels or the Lids store in the West Acres Mall, there are either no or almost no Mets hats for sale.

Similarly, when God pans the people of this world – whom he has made – he is looking for people “in the crowd” who “understand.” To understand here means to be paying close attention to the world around you and arriving at the very obvious conclusion not only that God exists but that you should be seeking seriously to have a close relationship with him. After all, God has made us, and he has made the awesome and intricate world in which we live. But are people looking for God like he is looking for them?

They all go astray, altogether they are corrupt;

there is none who does good – not even one.

When God looks for people who are searching for him, does he find any mutual interest in him? Not only does he see that no one is looking for him or wanting to have a relationship with him, but they are deliberately trying to avoid having any relationship with him at all. They are changing directions from him, going off in a different direction because they want to abandon the idea of God entirely. This is a very sad picture, indeed.

The psalm tells us how – or in what way – people turn away from God. They do so not by walking or running away from him with their feet, hiding behind objects, or wearing costumes or camouflage to disguise their appearance. They turn away through immoral behavior, making choices which directly contradict the greatness and goodness of God.

God created us to work and reap the rewards of our labor, but we’re lazy and steal.

God created us to speak the truth, but we tell lies instead.

God created us to say good, helpful, encouraging things, but we say hurtful things.

God created us to make honorable, useful things, but we invent crude, destructive things.

God created us to form close family relationships, but we reject family values by disrespecting parents, experimenting with inappropriate relationships, and neglecting our children.

We abandon God by doing the opposite of what he made us to do, twisting the good he called us to do into mangled, twisted forms that show that we do not take him seriously.

This resembles a child giving her parent a drawing which she has worked hard at with her crayons, only for her parent to crumple it up and throw it away.

It resembles a husband giving his wife some beautiful flowers, only for her to throw them on the ground and trample them with her feet.

It resembles a wife working all day to prepare a delicious, complicated meal for her husband to eat at dinner, only for him to throw it out the window to the dogs.

It resembles parents working hard to purchase their child a special birthday present, only for their child to turn around and sell that present for half the price and spend the money fund a bad habit.

The Hebrew word translated corrupt actually illustrates this concept because it portrays spoiled milk, milk that should have been drinkable and nourishing but is putrid and repulsive instead, unable to be used for its intended purpose.

What’s remarkable here is not only the sad, disrespectful nature of our failure but the degree of our failure. David reinforces with greater intensity the full extent of our problem.

We are all this way.

We are all this way together.

There is no one who does good, not even one person.

So, no. We are not basically good. No one is basically good. We are all basically bad.

Do you see the totality and universality of our problem? We must all acknowledge the existence of God and be seeking a close relationship with him, but we are all rejecting his existence and refusing to have a relationship with him instead. This is our nature. This is how we all are as human beings. No one – not even one person – is an exception.

When people reject God, they mistreat other people also. (Psa 14:4)

Do they not know, all who do evil –

who consume my people like they consume bread,

and do not call out to Yahweh?

Having acknowledged the scope and severity of our problem, the David continues to marvel that people neither acknowledge the existence of God nor seek a relationship with him. This is poetic language for saying something like, “What in the world?” or, “How can this be possible?” or, “I’m completely dumbfounded.”

As he marvels over mankind’s foolishness, he calls our behavior evil, which describes troubling behavior that disregards the law and is unjust. In particular, he identifies two lawless, unjust behaviors: mistreating God’s people and ignoring God himself, and both of these behaviors go together. They are inseparable, as the one produces the other.

By mentioning “my people,” David is likely referring to people who have been rescued from their sins and rebellion by God to become his people, not just in a political sense but in a spiritual sense – people who have turned to God and trusted in him by faith and therefore have a close and growing relationship with him.

He later refers to them as “the generation of the righteous,” which describes not a time period (like the Millennials or Gen Z, etc.) but a general category of people which transcends time. Righteous people are those whom God has first made righteous so that they may now enjoy a close relationship with him and live righteous lives as a result. Have you been made righteous by God?

The description of certain people “eating other people like bread” is a fascinating one and likely refers to people in powerful positions – due to military and political power or superior financial wealth – who exploit, mistreat, and take advantage of less fortunate people whom they should have been helping or protecting.

When people do not call out to God, in rejecting him they also mistreat other people, which is the problem this psalm is highlighting. A lack of respect for and belief in God reveals itself through not just bad behavior in general but a lack of respect for other people. This fact echoes what Christ himself taught, that the greatest command (the central command) is to “love God” and the second greatest is to “love your neighbor,” which he claimed is the logical and necessary extension of the first (Mark 12:28-33).

The way that you view and treat other people – esp. people who believe and follow Christ – is a key indicator of what you believe about God. When you believe in the existence and authority of God, you will truly value other people – esp. his own people – and you will behave towards them in a wholesome way.

Rejecting God does not erase the reality of future judgment. (Psa 14:5-6)

There they are afraid with fear,

because God is with the generation of the righteous.

At this point, David looks ahead to the future. He envisions the self-confident people who rejected God and mistreated God’s people as “being afraid with fear.” This repetition of words is a way of saying something more intensively, so a good translation might be, “They are overwhelmed with fear,” or, “They are extremely afraid.”

With this statement, David fast-forwards to the future day when God finally, completely delivers his people from injustice and life on the fringe, intervening with unmistakable judgment, demonstrating once and for all, in a visible way, that he is indeed there and on the side of those who have turned and trusted in him.

Those who denied God will find that their denial did not remove him, nor did it erase his final judgment of them. They will all bow their knees to acknowledge his existence and authority, then they will be cast into the Lake of Fire forever.

The plans of the oppressed you put to shame,

but Yahweh is his refuge.

According to David, people who reject God look down on the plans and hopes of God’s people. They laugh, mock, and undermine a godly person’s approach to life in the present and take the same unserious approach to our hope for the future, as well. They make plans, behave in ways, and implement policies which disregard godly, biblical values.

Peter speaks about this in the NT (2 Pet 3:3-7):

Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

According to David, those who trust God find protection and shelter with him. Even though they cannot see him, they rest in his care even as they are mistreated. God’s people are so intimately and inseparably connected to him that when they are mistreated, he is with them and guarantees to come to their aid because to mistreat them is to mistreat him.

God’s people can be happy in a godless world because God will make all things right in the end. (Psa 14:7)

Oh, that you would give from Zion salvation to Israel,

when Yahweh restores the fortunes of his people!

Let Jacob be glad – let Israel be happy!

With these closing words, the psalmist offers a prayer to God, then makes a request to God’s people.

The prayer to God – he pleads for God to come down to his people and lead them in triumph over the ungodly people of this world. He looks forward to that day when God places his people into a place of blessing, peace, power, and prosperity in the world, when they will no longer be marginalized and mistreated but will rule and roam freely. This day will come when God restores the entire creation to perfect order, free from all sin and sinful people (read Rev 21:1-8)

The request to God’s people – as they look forward to that day, they can and should be glad and happy, enthusiastic in knowing what lies ahead even though the present is filled with frustration and suffering. This is why we can rejoice in any circumstance and be happy through any trial, because we know the end of the story. God is there and he is watching over the affairs of this world. He will judge those who rejected him, and he will rescue those who have trusted in him.

With whom do you identify in this psalm?

When we read this psalm, it’s easy for us to identify with David and with the “my people” of God who are being mistreated, the “generation of the righteous,” “the poor,” and “his people.” And while this is appropriate for us to do if we have trusted in Christ as our Savior and King, we must also identify with the “fool” who “has said in his heart, ‘There is no God,’” for this is what we have all said at some earlier point in our life at the very least.

What’s fascinating about this psalm is that Paul focuses intently on this detail in his letter to the church at Rome. In Rom 3:9-12, he quotes from Psa 14:1-3 to show that both Jews and Gentiles are equally resistant to the existence and authority of God. This means that even the Jewish people for whom this psalm was originally written were considered “foolish” and “corrupt.” This was not just a psalm about the sins of ungodly Gentiles.

So, from this psalm we have gained God’s perspective about the condition of mankind. We have affirmed that though all people turn away from God by nature, those who trust in him can have hope about the future.

Have you admitted your resistance to God and turned to him for salvation from your sin?

If so, are you treating other people – esp. God’s people – in a way that reflects a belief in the goodness and greatness of God? Or have you drifted into a lifestyle which fails to acknowledge that God is there, one which treats other people poorly and enables you to do sinful and ungodly things?

No matter how you’re living, you can stop being foolish today and acknowledge that God is still there and wants to have a close relationship with you. He is seeking you though you are not seeking him. Will you turn to him and trust in him today? Will you live in the reality that he is there and will be there as judge in the end?

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