The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt and have done abominable iniquity. There is no one who does good.
There are few psalms I see quoted as often these days in terms of our life’s present context as Psalm 53—and not without reason. Indeed, it’s not difficult to find those who commit abominable acts of corruption while claiming there is no God. Not only that, but we can often despair at just how much they seem to get away with …and how gleefully they flaunt this foolish notion of godlessness. This heart-posture is in direct contradiction to the Romans 10:9 heart that believes wholly that God raised Jesus from the dead; it is the antithesis of the belief that leads to salvation.
No matter your viewpoints on certain things, it’s difficult to deny that the words of this passage do seem to apply to the present day, when people are all too comfortable doing whatever strikes their fancy because they don’t believe in absolute truth, absolute righteousness…or the absolute judgement that comes from an absolutely just God.
Yet these words that we apply so readily to our lives now…they were written thousands of years ago. Our present time does not lay sole claim to an abundance of foolishness or corruption; Israel was entrenched in the same, prompting this cry from David’s own heart about the posture of others’. And yet they were not forsaken or abandoned; God continued to intervene and care for His people, to hear their prayers and restore them time and again. Though David lamented of the iniquity he saw, God was not absent from the picture…nor were His plans apprehended in their carrying-out.
So, if Psalm 53 is one that reflects the cry from your own spirit, I want to encourage you in this: God knows. He sees and hears, just as He did thousands of years ago when David penned these words. And though the hearts of every person may seem wicked—though it may be “there is no one who does good, no, not one”—God is not finished carrying out His purposes yet. Times may be difficult, just as they were for Israel in the days of David, but our God is still the God who brings down giants, delivers His people, brings about salvation, and hears the prayers sung from our weary hearts.
We are not the first in history to see dark times. Likely we will not be the last. What’s important to focus on is the very first lesson we see in David’s story: not to focus on the size of the giant, but the size of our God. If we can grasp that nothing is ever truly built to last without His blessing, then we know the giants and foes we face, no matter how strong and corrupt, will not endure; and we know that in the end, it’s God who emerges triumphant.
Don’t allow your perspective to be clouded by focusing on the size of the giants. Instead focus on the size of your mighty Yahweh, victorious above all.
