Or, The Wisdom of Singing about Fools
Scripture: Psalm 14:1-7
Date: July 12, 2015
Speaker: Sean Higgins
We like to look. Not that we all look good, but we all are good at looking. Contrary to what your mother told you about how impolite it is to look, it is wise to open your eyes and see who’s doing what around you. Solomon wanted men to look at ants (Pro 6:6), to look out the window at the man following the strange woman to his harm (Pro 7:6), to look at the helplessness of wise-in-his-own-eyes guy (Pro 26:12) or the man hasty in his words (Pro 29:20), and to look at the man skillful in his work (Pro 22:29). The simple can become wise, the lazy can be motivated to work, if the right sort of looking takes place.
We like to look and we also like to talk. At times this is inappropriate. We shouldn’t talk about other people in order to make ourselves look good. But we will talk. We will see a lot of what others do and we will make judgments about it. Not only is this not wrong, we will do it. We must do it. Though we must learn how to do it well. We need lessons.
One of the best places to learn such lessons is lyrics, especially inspired ones, gifted to us in the Psalms. Paul wrote in Ephesians and Colossians that when we are filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18-19) and when the word of Christ dwells in us (Colossians 3:16) that we will speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. That means we should know the lyrics, meditate on them day and night (Psalm 1). Then, when we are looking around to categorize what’s happening in our world, we’ll be ready with a strategic psalm.
Psalm 14 is just the type of training song for the playlist of our poser-modern, poser-Christian times. Here is a song that describes the nature of man using the same vocabulary about corruption used by Moses in Genesis chapter 6. Here is a song that describes Yahweh looking down on corrupt men as He did in Genesis chapters 11 and 18. Adam sinned, so then mankind has made a mess ever since.
I’ve got a couple reasons for thumbing back to Psalms instead of moving into Genesis 4 right away. I believe Psalms are weapons for our spiritual warfare that too many Christians have keep wrapped up at the back of our Old Covenant closets. That’s why I’ve done some messages about and in Psalms the last couple years. I just happened to stop last fall with Psalm 13. Psalm 14 is a great prelude to the upcoming chapters in Genesis. It also is the sort of Psalm we need in our day.
What happens when men live like there is no God? What do they do? Is it better for humanity and government and justice? How will we recognize the God-rejectors? Do they announce it or live it? And if there are any faithful worshippers left, what should they do? They should sing psalms and hymns about spiritual corruption. They’ll be wise to sing (the right sort of songs) about fools.
Psalm 14 laments the corruption but offers wisdom for the righteous. Though no specific historical details are given, this psalm was written by David and at some point given to Israel’s choir director to be arranged for corporate worship. It may have been written during Saul’s reign as king but, whether or not, the spiritual condition of the surrounding culture is not good.
Three notes make up the chord of this song: Foolish Corruption (1-3), Futile Warfare (4-6), and Future Rejoicing (7).
From the inside out and all across the earth men do not perceive or pursue God.
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
(Psalm 14:1a)
This statement may be in the top 10 most well-known in the Bible, or at least in the Old Testament. We saw the content of this thinking already in Psalm 10:4, here David characterizes a man who thinks it as a fool . The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
Let’s identify two types of atheists: the practical atheist and the atheist proper. Not that it is proper or correct to be an atheist, but the atheist proper really tries to believe that he believes that there is no God. The practical atheist believes that he believes that there is a God, he just doesn’t care. The atheist proper puts his faith in a godless existence, or at least he refuses to call the objects of his adoration a “god.” The atheist proper tries to argue the evidence for God’s existence out of his mind and the more militant treat believers in God as the fools.
Practical atheists are much more easy to get along with. They don’t have a theological agenda. They may say that there is a God, maybe even the God of the Bible. Why not? But they don’t see fit to acknowledge Him as a subject or object.
Which sort of God-denier is this song about? It could be either. He says, There is no God but he says it in his heart , he says it “to himself,” not necessarily out loud. Then he might lost the conservative vote. In David’s case, there is nothing particularly foreign about the fools. These are domestic fools, Jewish fools, religious fools who probably made the minimum number of sacrifices to placate the priests.
But they are fools nonetheless. The Hebrew word is nabal. They do not have low IQs, they do not wear dunce caps. Based on verse 4 they may be the governors and judges and movie producers and newspaper editors who determine what is “right” and “equal” and “liberty.” But in reality they are the fools. Their conduct shows it and the next three phrases in the second half of verse one reveal the rot.
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
there is none who does good. (Psalm 14:1)
Corrupt like rust through the floor boards that makes the road visible. They do abominable deeds , their works are vile. None…does good .
Maybe that is a poetic overstatement, dramatic license for the music. Verses 2 and 3 bring forward the expert witness, who also happens to be the Judge.
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. (Psalm 14:2–3)
The phrasing in verse 2 is exactly like that in Genesis 11:5 before the judgment at Babel as well as in Genesis 18:21 before the fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah. Yahweh looks down . He stoops over, so to speak, and makes a formal investigation (which usually leads to judgment). Though He knows, the song reminds us that He’s looking. He pays attention, and better than we could. Yahweh looks for any who understand , the ones who seek after God .
The word corrupt in verse 3 is like sour milk in your mustache. It stinks so bad that it stings. The whole carton is tainted.
The catholic depravity is demonstrated with all turned and together they are corrupt, none who does good, not even one . From David’s limited perspective, the LORD’s exhaustive perspective is worse than pessimistic. He confirms the comprehensive corruption.
In our day it might sound like this from Supreme Court Justice Kennedy in his opinion on the mandatory legalization of homosexual “marriage.”
[R]ights come not from ancient sources alone. They rise, too, from a better informed understanding of how constitutional imperatives define a liberty that remains urgent in our own era.
We don’t need God, we don’t need “ancient sources” like the Bible. We’ve got humans. We’ve got us! “I think therefore I don’t need God.” But once we give up God we’ve given up any possibility of standards and dignity and no wonder He calls us fools.
The unrighteous are not neutral. Unrighteous men do not want to be left alone to do their unrighteousness in private, or even to do unrighteous things to other unrighteous men. This is war. The seed of the serpent isn’t satisfied with being tolerated. Once God is gone from their hearts, lust for God’s throne consumes them. It causes them to fight in a battle they cannot win against people who only have God as their protection.
Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the LORD?
(Psalm 14:4)
The question begs for some reality checking, like a dog running full speed at something twenty feet away on his fifteen foot chain. It is aimed at they , the they who are evildoers , the evildoers who do not call upon the LORD . In other words, the fools. The song let them have their atheistic claim for three verses, as if David said, “You believe that you don’t believe in God, but don’t you believe that belief is dumb?”
Have they no knowledge or, “Don’t they know better?” “How could they be so foolish?” They don’t depend on the LORD—like He demands—and they destroy the LORD’s people—who He defends. “Their evil deeds are characterized as casual acts of self-focused consumption that nevertheless have ultimate consequences for those consumed” (Gerald Wilson). What in the world are they doing? Do they really think that they can get away with this?
No, they don’t.
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.
(Psalm 14:5–6)
The word There is similar to “behold.” Look at them there.
Like the preacher who wrote, “Weak point, yell here!” the fools boast most when victory is least likely. They may have the majority, they have the media, they may have the legislative and executive and judicial branches, they may have the rhetorical high ground and clever, trending hashtags and still their hearts are melting in fear.
They are in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous . They may not look as if they are living their nightmare. They probably won’t admit the darkness of their dread. It doesn’t change that they are on the wrong side of history. However consolidated their rebellion may be, God is with , He supports and stands with the righteous (see Psalm 1:5-6).
You would shame the plans of the poor , for example, like Margaret Sanger attempting to destroy a group of people by making them think that the killing services are benefiting them. Believers who desire to be faithful to the law of God but get caught praying or who get caught not bowing before the idol of homosexuality and so are thrown into the hate furnace heated seven times the normal. The foolish try to make others look foolish. The fearful attempt to use fear and shame. But for the righteous the LORD is his refuge .
The final verse turns the tune all the way into a major chord with a prayer and an expectation.
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.
(Psalm 14:7)
Zion is the place that represented God’s presence, the poetic title used especially through the psalms and prophets about His peculiar revelation of Himself as a good for His people. With His presence comes all blessing. David sings about a certain future, not a conditional one (“if”), when the LORD restores the fortunes of his people . When He gives rain and fruit and grandchildren and peace, then there will be reason to rejoice and be glad . Jacob and Israel are names that represent the chosen nation, God’s people, and yet we share a similar hope, hence why Spirit-filled and Word-filled Christians can sing the same song.
Looking around David saw rottenness and ruin. Looking ahead by faith David saw restoration and rejoicing, and that enabled current rejoicing.
Atheism of any kind is dangerous. We can thank God that so much of the time He restrains man from acting out the full foolishness of their principles. The song already demonstrates the discord of their lives: corrupt, abominable, perverse, terrible and in terror. But it could get worse.
Like a roofing company employer who says to himself, “There is no gravity,” the consequences are disastrous.
This message is so important that Psalm 53 is almost an exact repeat. It would be like having two versions of “Amazing Grace” in a hymnal with only one line in one verse is different.
The apostle Paul quoted Psalm 14:1-3 in Romans 3:10-12. It starts his final round about man’s sinfulness. He aims to shut “every mouth” so that “the whole world may be held accountable to God” (3:19). That’s why he said “all have sinned and all short of the glory of God” (3:23). Which side are we on? Well we were fools even if we’re not now by God’s grace.
I appreciate Paul’s logic leading us to conviction. But the original setting of the truths about spiritual corruption are meant as lyrics leading us to confidence. Anyone can see foolishness and talk about it. It is not hard to make a case for the foolishness of those around us. But observations and arguments—as they are—justify our complaints. Anyone can see and complain.
A song like Psalm 14 teaches us to put observations to use toward boldness and hopefulness and courage. When they say that we are foolish, we really can say, “Nuh uh, you are.” And we’re not just fighting foolishness with foolishness, we’d be fighting foolishness with faith. We’d be fighting foolishness with worship. We’d be fighting with psalms.
We can appreciate much in the contemporary Christian, gospel-centered music, but rarely does it address the foolishness of unbelief enough in order to remind us that we’re seeing the corruption correctly, and that corruption—-as bad as it is—-is a fool’s spit-wad against the mountain of God’s refuge.
Two seeds, two songs, both calling each other “fool”. It isn’t whether or not you will sing songs about others being fools, it’s what is your standard for deciding who is a fool. Man is good or God is good. One looks foolish, one is foolish.
We will talk about fools, but will we sing about them? Talking (or listening to others talk) about fools typically leads to complaints. Singing about fools can lead to clarity and confidence in God. It is my job as a pastor to feed you with theology and to help you learn the best songs for your fear of the Lord.
There are two kinds of evildoers: those who do evil and those who are said to do evil. Beloved, you must do good so that it is said to be evil by the self-proclaimed evil police. But keep your conduct right in God’s eyes so that men will glorify Him when He makes His standard clear for all to see.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:11–12, ESV)