Psalm 14: The Heart Talk Of Fools (Part 2)—The Foolishness Of Fallenness

Why does Psalm 14 focus on the foolishness of sinners? It does so to highlight God’s sovereignty despite the wrongs that are out of place in the world. Sin and its fallout are not what ought to be. These shortcomings about the world are not, strictly speaking, God’s wisdom. They are the folly of sinful man.

Psalm 14 also focuses on the judgment that is coming for sinners who indulge wicked foolishness. God has condemnation in store for them. This foolishness is not innocently mistaken. It is godlessly liable.

Psalm 14 further puts our attention on the redemption that comes to those who were once foolish. God is merciful to reveal himself as the refuge to the downtrodden and the redeemer of those who look to him. In him is true wisdom. Ultimately, Psalm 14 calls us to focus our gaze upon the true God and what he has done for us in Christ.

Reflection

Psalm 14 is a reflection upon the fallen condition of humanity; it considers what that means for us as we live before God. It is “a powerful description of the godless world in which the righteous must live and which [at times] poses a constant threat to them.”1 Although many psalms talk about “the evil acts of the wicked or a group of enemies,” Psalm 14 makes a more general statement “about all of mankind.”2

Interestingly, this psalm does not fit neatly into our usual categories for the types of psalms we find in the Psalter.3 We tend to think about laments or praises or thanksgivings. This one breaks the mold somewhat. Despite sounding a note that sounds like lament about the sinful condition of humanity, it hits the other note of confidence in the Lord.

That confidence rings through in David’s acknowledgement that it was foolish for the ungodly to pretend like there is no God. That claim marks this psalm as “a kind of statement of faith encouraging people to believe that scoundrels will not win.”4 As one commentator says, “As a whole, the psalm suggests that a wise and good life involves recognizing that God is involved in the world, doing good, and looking to God for help.”5 Hence, Psalm 14 aims to be “comfort for the faithful.”6

Through David’s two notes of lament and confidence, we see that humanity’s fallen condition is a factor we should not forget if we are to find encouragement in this life. If we believed the godless succeed because it should be that way, we would despair. We know, however, that sin has stained this world’s trajectories. It should not be that evil leads to prosperity. And, in the end, it will not.

Response

In part 1 of this series on Psalm 14, we grabbed hold of several features of this psalm as they relate to Psalm 2. Those connections fill every section of Psalm 14. This shows that its main exegetical point is to emphasize the earthly perspective that godlessness is foolish in counterbalance to the heavenly perspective in Psalm 2 where God laughs and plans against that foolishness. David wrote this psalm as a reflection upon the futility of living as if God were not the highest reality for all creatures. The godless may be antagonistic toward the faith, but that antagonism is sheer folly.7

Psalm 14 focuses on what it is like when people attempt to live independently of God. It depicts what happens when we pretend that God is not a real factor in the world, in life, and in the significance of eternity. It is also a reminder to those who know the Lord that it is sheer folly to strive to live as if God were not real.8 “The fool is one who chooses never to think of . . . God as being involved in his daily affairs.”9

Psalm 14 is also about the effects of pretending God is not real. When people behave as if God does not exist, it brings trouble to the weak (v. 4). To live well, we need a sense of God’s presence.10 As we see in the lives of people all around us, they can want to be good people. But without God as the guiding principle for their lives, they most often find themselves in opposition to what it really means to be good.

On top of that, God himself asks the question in verse 4: “Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord?” God himself speaks as if astonished at the folly of the wicked who pretend he is not real.11 The boggled question, “Why do the nations rage?” (Ps 2:1), has grounds in, “Do the nations not know the truth as they pursue that foolishness?” (Ps 14:4) As we walk through the difficulties of life among those who are against our faith, we find great comfort in knowing that God is assessing the situation for righteousness.

As the world celebrates itself in the way that it ignores God, it can be hard not to lose heart. But Psalm 14 reminds us that God is the ultimate reason our hearts can be lifted. John Calvin explained, “It is therefore important for us, in the first place, to know, that however much the world applaud these crafty and scoffing characters, who allow themselves to indulge to any extent in wickedness, yet the Holy Spirit condemns them as being fools; for there is no stupidity more brutish than forgetfulness of God.”12 When we lose confidence in how things are going around us on earth, we go to Psalm 14 to see how God provides a response. Psalm 14 helps us pray amid the foolishness of opposition to God and calls us to never give up hope that God’s promises are true despite how the world opposes them.

Restoration

How does Psalm 14 point us to Christ? Christ is the reason we know it will ultimately be foolish to stand in opposition to the Lord. He is the outcome of Psalm 14:7: “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.”

In Romans 3:10–11, Paul applies Psalm 14:1 to everyone.13 He points out that this foolishness is not some silly folly. It is foolishness that means condemnation before God for our sin. This sort of foolishness is opposition to God, and so he will judge us. The foolishness that condemns sinners proves to be a universally applicable accusation to every single person who has descended from Adam by natural generation. We are all the fools who stand condemned by our wicked foolishness.

Yet, salvation has come from Zion. In Romans 11:26, Paul reflected on the same idea as Psalm 14:7: “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.” For all who long for that restoration, God has revealed where it can be found.

Although we too were once foolish enough to doubt God and to rebel against him, God has restored us in Christ. Paul got at this truth in 1 Corinthians 1:30: “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (emphasis added). Christ has even overturned the foolishness that once plagued us. Although it seems foolish to the world, in his death, he has obtained everlasting victory. He put away our sins, and by his resurrection conquered the grave. As those who take refuge in him, we know that salvation has come, we have that hoped-for restoration, and we have great cause to rejoice.

Notes

  1. Allen P. Ross, A Commentary on the Psalms, 3 vols. (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic Press, 2011–16), 1: 372–73.
  2. Ross, Psalms, 1: 372–73
  3. John Goldingay, Psalms, 3 vols., Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006–8), 1:211; Ross, Psalms, 1:373.
  4. Goldingay, Psalms, 1:211.
  5. Goldingay, 1:217.
  6. Ross, Psalms, 1:373.
  7. Ross, Psalms, 1:384.
  8. Ross, 1:375–76.
  9. Ross, 1:376.
  10. Goldingay, Psalms, 1:217.
  11. Ross, Psalms, 1:380.
  12. John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries, 22 vol. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2009), 4.2: 189–90.
  13. Calvin, Commentaries, 4.2:189.

© Harrison Perkins. All Rights Reserved.

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