Skip to main content

Psalms 14

Image
By

Verses 1-7, “The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call on the Lord? There they are in great fear, For God is with the generation of the righteous. You shame the counsel of the poor, But the Lord is his refuge. Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord brings back the captivity of His people, Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.”

This psalm speaks to the depravity of man, which is why we are all in need of a Savior. If we were "good enough" to earn salvation, because our good deeds outweighed our bad, then Jesus would have died in vein. There was no other way, which is why He submitted to the will of the Father instead of what He wanted.  Matthew 26:39, “He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying,' O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.' ”  It is our choice whether or not to receive this free gift of salvation that was made possible by the death of Jesus on the cross, but sadly many will not.

The fool will reject Jesus and His gift. They are fools because they willingly ignore His miraculous signs and works and act as though there is no God. He has left His signature, so to speak, on all that He has done and created. Romans 1:20‭-‬21, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”  What's worse is that those who reject the truth, come up with their own theories about gods and creation, thinking that they are so wise. They do their abominable works in the face of God and store up their own wrath for the day of judgement.

Even if you do not deny God with your mouth, you can still deny Him in your heart, without a word. It will be evidenced through your actions. In fact, the most dangerous place to be might just be to think that you are saved when you truly are not. God is looking down from Heaven to see if there are those with understanding...what is He seeing in you? Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”  We need to examine our own hearts and behavior to make sure we are still in the faith, knowing it is possible to start strong, yet still not finish the race.  Philippians 2:12‭-‬13, “Therefore, [. . .] work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1 Corinthians 9

By
Paul feels the need to defend his calling and his position of authority among the Corinthians, due to the fact that he is being examined. Ironically, his decision to not take support from the church, which should have earned him even more respect, has done the opposite causing his legitimacy as an apostle to be called into question. He makes the point that those who labor spiritually for the Corinthians have the right to eat and drink at their expense, and should expect the same support for their believing wife if they choose to bring one along as part of their ministry.  Certainly if others have been supported by them, Paul has even more right, being their spiritual father so to speak. I Corinthians 9:12, "If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ." Paul does not want to be accused of fulfilling his duty out of financial obligation, and so to demon...
7 comments
Read more

1 Timothy 6

By
Those of us who are under authority should be respectful so that outsiders will not witness our behavior and blaspheme God or His word. Although slavery has been abolished in America, we still have employers, and our jobs should be done unto the Lord so that our hard work will be to the glory of God. Matthew 5:16, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Some Christians believe that they can relax on these standards if they work for a Christian boss, but actually the opposite is true. We should serve them even harder knowing that a brother or sister will be benefiting from our labors. Having been employed in ministry I was able to witness firsthand how others served their Christian bosses. Many would show up late, leave early, miss meetings, and produce mediocre to poor quality work as though it were acceptable to do so. If we bear the name of Jesus, we should stand out for our quality of performance and our et...
5 comments
Read more

2 Corinthians 2

By
The letter Paul has written was out of love for the Corinthians, but was anguishing for him to write.  Choosing to send a letter rather than return to visit them on his way back through from Macedonia, was to avoid another occurrence of the first visit.  We can assume that the first visit was troubling for Paul, being their spiritual father so to speak, to see the church in the state it was in, requiring him to rebuke them harshly for their errors.  Much the same as when we are grieved when someone close to us goes astray (like our children), causing the need for strong words and discipline. Paul had sorrow over those whom he wanted to have joy.  Verse 4, “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears,  not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.” The intention of the letter was not to bring them grief, but to correct them in love and bring about a change of heart and...
5 comments
Read more