Are you a Fool?
Psalms 14:1-7
Are you a fool?
Psalms 14:1-7, 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. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. 3 They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.
4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call on the Lord? 5 There they are in great fear, For God is with the generation of the righteous. 6 You shame the counsel of the poor, But the Lord is his refuge. 7 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.
Most loved book of the Bible. Psalms meant to singing not for reading. Songs are meant for learning.
Sometime Psalms are not for singing but asking God to bringdown judgement upon people. Jesus and Paul and many other quoted or repeated few verses from Psalms. Psalms 40 borrows the main idea from Psalms 70 Psalms 71 borrows the main idea from Psalms 31 Psalms 108 combination of Psalms 57 and Psalms 60.
Psalms are repeated. Psalms are quoted. Only Psalms is repeated! It is not Psalms 23 0r 42, or 139, whatever your special. This is the only Psalm 14 repeated word by word in Psalms 53. Turn and see for yourself. They organised all the single 150 Psalms into a book between 500 B.C. to 70A.D.
It is purposefully repeated. Psalter knew yet they repeated it! V 1, The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
Why would they repeat this?
There will always people who will doubt and deny the existence of God. For some it will be always God is not real. We may not talk about it in our churches. It raises the question of Agnosticism and Atheism.
Agnosticism
A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God. Neither the deny nor prove of existence of God. Atheism. Disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God. They flat out reject God.
An atheist is someone who doesn't believe in a god, while an agnostic is someone who doesn't believe it's possible to know for sure that a god exists. Psalms 14 and 53 reminds us that always there will be doubt and deny God.
Life is filled with Agnostics and Atheism.
As of 2022 there is 7% of the population in the world say they are Atheist. In USA it is about over 12% of the people identify themselves as Atheist. In UK quite alarmingly 53% describe themselves as no religion. they are about 40% Nonbeliever/Agnostic account 17%, Atheist 10% in Europe.
In India it is about 3% All of us doubt and wonder is God real? Psalms 14 acknowledge the one who doesn’t believe in God is fool. Hebrew word for Fool is Nabal. Fool in English is like stupid, unwise, but in Hebrews it is not the same.
We can’t say, Sigmund Feud, Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawkins are fools. As we know some of the Agnostics and Atheist are far from stupid. They are not dump, illogical or rational. It doesn’t mean righteous.
Some of them are good people and love and serve others good. Sometimes there are other Christians are worse than kind Agnostic or Atheist people. Close minded Christians are for more danger and destructive to Christianity than anyone else.
What made them to turn to Agnostics or Atheists?
What led them there? Psalms 14 and 53 shows us the reality of the Agnostic and Atheist people, so we need to ask the question what road led them there? What experience made them to doubt and deny the existence of God? There are some raised in their life.
The society and their culture raised them like that. China is one clear example. Russia especially Siberia.
What about the country believed in God? What about countries where Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Muslim?
What about country like ours?
We are supposed to be Christian country! Church is in almost every corner. What about someone raised in such culture yet they become Agnostics and Atheists? Psalms 14 and 53 is in the similar context. Israelites who raised where the temple of God is.
They were raised memorising everyday Deuteronomy 6:4-5? Ancient Israel scriptures read every day! Ancient Israel Pharisees walked every day! Ancient Israel Temple was the centre of the culture. Israel was God believing country.
How someone raised in Israel not believe in God? How someone walked near the temple of God not believe in God? How was someone told every Sabbath the story of God’s miracle work? How someone doubt God when Moses was portrayed as hero in bringing the people God to Israel?
Psalms 14 gives us the answer!
Psalms 14:1, 3-4,
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. 3 They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. 4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call on the Lord?
They looked around and found there were so much of evil around. They could not comprehend how come so much of evil can exist where God is present. They saw evil without divine justice. Experience tragedy without God’s intervention in their life.
They saw some ugly and bad things happened to good people so they could no longer have faith in God. When the prayers are offered to God in their distress which was not answered by God. Theodicy: The vindication of divine providence in view of the existence of evil.
A theodicy is an attempt to justify or defend God in the face of evil by answering the problem.
Why would God allow that to happen? Child born with cancer. Innocent children killed. Drunk driver kills the innocent good family. Mom never had any drink or smoke get lung cancer. A drunkard and chain smoker lives for 98 years.
Have you ever had a Theodicy moment? Psalms 14 suggest us that Theodicy opens up Agnostic and Atheism. Theodicy opens up doubt about God. Theodicy is the reason for people losing faith. Amber Heard story. Self-professed Atheist.
Brought up as a Catholic. She confessed as a devout and confessed her faith in Lord Jesus Christ. At the age of 15 one of her closest friends died in an accident.
She questioned how could God let this happen? Amber heard walked away from God!
How do you define God? When you hear the word God what comes to your mind? When you hear God what portrait comes to your mind?
Christianity defines God in these Four things. 1. God is omnipotent. 2. God is Omniscient.
3. God is Omnipresent
4. God is good.
God is Omnipotent
The word omnipotent comes from omni- meaning “all” and potent meaning “power.” If God is infinite, and if He is sovereign, which we know He is, then He must also be omnipotent. He has all power over all things at all times and in all ways.
God created everything by His word. Genesis 1. God’s power is seen in the preservation of His creation.
God is Omniscient
God has to know everything. God must see everything. God has to know everything about you. God must know everything about your past, future, present, your emotions, your will, what the enemy is planning.
God is Omnipresent
God is everywhere. God is present in every place and time. God’s Omnipotence and Omniscience imply his Omnipresence. Since God’s omnipotence and omniscience are universal, we must conclude that he is omnipresent. Since God is omnipresent, all his attributes are omnipresent as well—His power and knowledge, as well as His truth, love, grace, eternity, infinity, and so on.
So the omni-attributes are like the other attributes of God, inseparable from each other and from him.
God is Good
God is good, holy, pure, incapable of anything evil. God is merciful God is loving. God is gracious. God is incapable everything. So, when the Theodicy moment happens one of the four attributes of God is attacked.
Take one example
A drunk driver drives through the innocent family and killing all of them and walk away without any scratch on his body.
1. When you ask why God didn’t stop then you are
attacking the Omnipotence of God.
2. When you ask why God did not know that the family
should not be there then you are attacking the Omniscient of God.
3. When you ask where God was when this happened
then you are attacking the Omnipresence of God.
4. When you ask Why this good family die, and the
drunkard walks away scoot free then you attack the goodness of God? When someone challenges any one of the attributes of God in the Theodicy moment then God is not God. This is when doubt creeps in Agnostics and Atheism born.
Theodicy opens the door for all these things. What answer a Christian can give it to those who happened to go to the Theodicy moment? How can you prove to the Atheist there is a God? How can you prove to Charles Darwin that there is a God?
Psalms 14 gives us the answer! But the answer is not what you think!
- V1, Fool says that there is no God.
- V2, God sees from heaven to see any wise person.
- V 1, Theodicy moment brings birth to Agnostics and Atheist
- V 2, God sees any wise to seek Him.
- V 1, Says that there is no God.
- V 2, Wise seek God. V 1, Atheism V 2, Decision.
God is not what I prove but what I choose! God is not a fact to be proven but a decision to make. God is not proven by science/philosophical idea God is to be followed by faith. Being a Pastor over 20 years I have been many people who were gone to the Theodicy moment in their life. They are in the crossroad to make their decision. Either to follow God or to walk away from Him.
There are people who had gone through such an injustice in their life.
Let me say this with all my love, God is not to be proven but a choice to made to follow Him. God told Adam and Eve you got to make the choice while they were standing before the tree.
Joshua 24:15, And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
1 Kings 18:21, And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. Either you believe in Him God or reject Him….
It is a choice you choose to make! In spite of science, In spite of Philosophical opinion, In spite of logical argument, In spite of Sigmund Freud, In spite of Charles Darwin, In spite of Theodicy,
You choose God to trust Him! When you make the choice in spite of everything has gone wrong, the funeral you went, the hospital visits you made, the enemy gets angry on you! Faith is a choice Discipleship is a choice Believing God is a choice you should make.
Fool definition
Hebrew word for Fool is Nabal. Nabal means it is not stupid, but it means it is empty. Empty says that there is no God.
Demonstration of money in the packet
Protection God has given me is the proof I am not empty! God blessed with me with good health. God has prevented me from many things. Do you know why I chose to follow God? 1. God spared my life.
So many times, God turned the evil into something beautiful in my life. I am alive today itself a proof that God is true in my life! Shame on you if you have seen the hand of God and yet walked away from the Lord.
2. God fulfilled His promise
For too many times the word of God perfectly aligned with my life! Evil into good, Waiting on the Lord for deliverance, Offering made overflow of finance, and Weeping turn into joy. 3. God answered my prayers. There are in my life circumstances that no human can help me.
There are no resources from human was not able to pull me up. But God heard my cry! God heard my feeble cry! There are things happens in my life I don’t know
I can’t see the trouble coming in my ways. But God who sees everything has changed my life. God who commanded the wave and wind controlled my world. My brothers and sister, I am not a fool or empty. I chose to follow God and my sincere prayer is that you will also too the same.