Psalm 14 The Practical Atheist I have a book titled The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living as If He Doesn’t Exist by Craig Groeschel. The subjects of the book, as well as those mentioned in this psalm, are not theoretical atheists who deny God in their logic; they are practical atheists who deny God in their lives. The contrast in the psalm is between the generation of the wicked and the generation of the righteous (v. 5). The latter group is made up of those who have trusted the Lord and seek Him and His will (Ps. 24:6). 1. The generation of the wicked is composed of people who are “practical atheists.” God is not in their hearts, no matter what they may say and do outwardly. The Hebrew for fool in this Psalm is nabal, a word which implies an aggressive perversity, epitomized in the Nabal of 1 Samuel 25:25. The assertion, There is no God, is treated in Scripture not as a sincere if misguided conviction, but as a proud act of defiance (Kidner). These fools disobey God and exploit people made in the image of God. They are corrupt (v. 1), and so they do corrupt things. The folly of evil is now seen as failure to discriminate (v. 4) and failure to foresee (vv. 5–6). While this describes contemporary mankind, it also portrays everyone all the time (See Rom. 3:10–12). 2. The generation of the righteous calls on the Lord and He answers (v. 4). God dwells with these people (v. 5), protects them (v. 6), and gives them joyful hope (v. 7). This group may not be large, but it is precious to God, and the future of God’s program rests with it. The Christian is taught by Romans 8:19–25 to pray just such a prayer, in the context of the whole creation’s “eager longing” for liberty (Kidner). Of which group are you a member? Have you made your allegiance known? Who is a greater fool? The one who says in his heart, “there is no God,” or the one who knows in his heart that there is a God, yet lives as if there is no God? “I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God, it changes me” (C. S. Lewis).
Posted on: Wed, 07 May 2014 13:50:48 +0000