We left last week with questions like ‘Are we there yet?’ in the new heaven and earth or are we the agents to that end? Psalm 14 makes it clear that we are on the road, but not there yet. WE know the truth of Psalm 14, evil persists. The person presented here is most apparent in the arrogant materialist in .v.1 perhaps the extreme example, but built into this picture is the failure to discriminate the merits of one’s actions and failure to foresee the outcome of poor choices. There is a complacency of the unconcerned exploiter. It is interesting to read various translations of this psalm, one finds expressions like ‘rotten to the core’, ‘devoid of wisdom’, ’ignorant’; St. Paul in Rom.1:18-32 has it sorted rather well and leaves no excuse for those who ‘claiming to be wise, they became fools’.
It is a grim, albeit accurate picture of humanity but the psalm does not leave us in despair. In the closing verses is the hope of restoration for God’s people, and if one proceeds to Psalm 15 there is a bucket full of hope.
Ian Farquhar
Launceston North Congregation