PSALM 53
"The fool says in his
heart "There is no God." They are corrupt, and their ways are
vile; there is no one who does good. God looks
down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are
any who understand, any who seek God. Everyone has turned away, they have
together become corrupt; there is no one who does good,
not even one. Will the evildoers never learn-those who devour my people
as men eat bread and who do not call on God? There they were, overwhelmed with
dread, where there was nothing to dread. God scattered the bones of those who
attacked you, you put them to shame, for God despised them. Oh, that salvation
for
Two names popped into my
mind after reading this Psalm, Madalyn Murray O'Hair and Noah, two complete opposites. Madalyn Murray O'Hair popped into
my mind after reading the first verse "the fool says in his heart 'There
is no God'." Here is an example of a hard-core athiest
who took to the courts and was responsible for the ban of prayer and bible
reading in schools. Then I thought of Noah after reading the verses
"God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Everyone has
turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one." God chose Noah and his
family to build the ark and fill it with every living thing so only they
survived the great flood in Genesis, because the world had become so
corrupt. Noah and his family were the only faithful people God saw.
Psalm 53, supposedly written
by King David hundreds of years before the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a
duplicate of Psalm 14, the main difference being the use of the word
"God" instead of "the Lord". King David realized the
folly of those who live their life without God. Madalyn
Murray O'Hair lived her life trying to pursuade people there is no God. Noah lived a Godly
life and God rewarded his faithfulness.
Have you ever heard someone
say "why has God done this to me" or "whatever have I done to
God to deserve this trouble"? God gets the blame. God's name
gets cursed or used as part of a curse. God, who loves
us so much He sent his Son to die for our miserable sins. God who cries right along with us and is with us in every
trouble to help and comfort us if only we turn to Him. God knows our
every suffering and hears our every prayer. He loves us unconditionally, even when we doubt him or use his name is
vain. He forgives us over and over.
Here we are, thousands of
years after David's Psalm. What does God think now as he looks out from
Heaven??
Abba, Father, we forget some
of the words you taught the disciples, "hallowed be your name".
We let the gods of our earthly world take over our lives and turn us away from
you. Forgive our human frailties and accept our thanks and love for all
you do for us. Amen.
Rae Starke