December 14, 2015
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
there is none who does good.
The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the Lord?
There they are in great terror,
for God is with the generation of the righteous.
You would shame the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is his refuge.
Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
Reading this I cannot help to think about the fool. Who are they and why are they a fool? What did they do to get to the point of becoming one.
Their foolishness is because they believe that there is no God, that there is no moral judge. This is not a choice that one comes upon one day but it seems to me that it is a conscience choice to believe that there is no God. According to this Psalm the fool does what they please and it is called abominable. Part of that is due to shaming the poor, for not calling upon the Lord, and taking what is not theirs.
I look at the fool and it causes me to stop to examine myself. Am I living a life that others would look at and compare me to the fool that we find here? In my daily life am I acknowledging God for who He really is, or am I doing whatever I please?
Later in Scripture, specifically Proverbs 1, it states that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” In order to not be the fool I must everyday choose to fear the Lord by acknowledging who He is and yield my desire to him.