Many times we are all brag until faced with reality. That was me when I was a child in Alaska – I used to brag about how I would respond if I ever saw a bear in the wild. All those visions of myself vanished when a bear actually showed up.

That is also the response of the “wicked” addressed in this Psalm.

Also – this Psalm’s first three verses form the backbone of Paul’s thesis in Romans where he quotes these verses pretty extensively in Romans 3. This illustrates an old preacher’s example when he said “The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed” and the “New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.”

Here is the video link:

Psalm 14

The audio links to Spotify and iTunes are to the right, as usual.

Here is the transcript to today’s podcast:

Psalm 14

 All About a Bear  

1 The fool says in his heart,
    “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
    there is no one who does good.

2 The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
    any who seek God.

3 All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
    there is no one who does good,
    not even one.

“The Old testament is the New Testament concealed, the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.”

 These first three verses are a clear verification of that fact. Paul quotes this Psalm to lay the foundation of his thesis in Romans that God’s salvation is due to the grace of God alone, that mankind WILL not seek God on his own, leading to the conclusion that without the intervention of God’s Holy Spirit, NONE will be saved.

Romans 3

10 As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;

11 there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.

12 All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.”

The word translated “fool” denotes someone who is not an atheist, nor one who is ignorant of God’s presence. A “fool” is someone who is actively opposed to God and His redemptive work.

A true atheist would be ambivalent towards the concept of a personal God. In their world-view there is no God, so why waste the energy hating someone Who does not exist? The people described in these first three verses know of God and are His avowed enemies.

4 Do all these evildoers know nothing?

They devour my people as though eating bread;
    they never call on the Lord.

They exult in doing things to denigrate God and His children. It is their joy to belittle God’s children, to strut around as if they are really something.

5 But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
    for God is present in the company of the righteous.

This reminds me of myself as a child growing up in Alaska. Where I lived there were a great deal of Brown bears – America’s apex predator. As I grew up, learning how to use firearms, I used to boast about not being afraid of the bears. I would brag about how, if confronted by a bear in the wilds, I would nonchalantly kill it with my rifle. Then the time came when I was within yards of a brown bear sow who stood up when she saw me. She was approximately 7- 8 feet tall standing on her hind legs. MY legs turned to jelly, and all I wanted was to be far away from this colossus with fur. I talked the talk UNTIL face-to-face with this monster of a bear.

This is a perfect example of who the Psalmist is talking about here.  They preen and they strut – much like I did as a young man making my boast about the bears. Then, much like my reaction when the bear showed up, when God shows up, these wicked will be 

“overwhelmed with dread”

These wicked people’s plans are to frustrate the plans of God’s children. But then the bear shows up. In my example of myself and the bear sow, her mission is to protect her cubs. The cubs find refuge in her.

6 You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
    but the Lord is their refuge.

7 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
    When the Lord restores his people,
    let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!

The Psalmist appears to be praying for the era of restoration when Israel, restored to the land, will again enjoy the blessings of God. After the Exile God demonstrated his faithfulness by restoring Israel to the land, and by permitting his temple to be rebuilt. God has a plan that requires the physical nation of Israel. All who live in Israel, descendants of Abraham, are included in THAT blessing. Within Israel, however, is ANOTHER group – a remnant – who are true followers of God. The Messiah brings salvation to that remnant within the nation of Israel, as well as to the remnant of the Gentile world that He is drawing to Himself.

An old Presbyterian preacher once told me that the Church today contains two groups of people – the “Church visible” and the “Church invisible”. The “Church visible” is everybody who shows up on Sunday. The “Church invisible” are those we see when those who are NOT true God followers leave. For a time it is hard to distinguish between those two groups. They say the same things, do the same things – yet when the bear showed herself to me as a young man, it pulled the curtain back on my TRUE nature. In the same manner, when God begins to show up, the reaction of the “Church Visible” will be to draw away from Him and His children.

In His Grip.

Paige