Psalm 14:1 Incipient Atheism

Psalm 14:1 The fool says in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no-one who does good.

For the director of music. Of David. Psalm 14 is the famous psalm about the fool that is more or less repeated in Psalm 53 (though with a little difference towards the end). It begins The fool says in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no-one who does good. It goes on to describe the LORD looking down from heaven on people to see if any understand or seek God. But no, all are totally depraved. Such evil doers oppose God's people but the psalm ends on a positive note - but the LORD is their refuge. David then prays (verse 7) Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! As he says When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, God's people have reason to rejoice. The fool in Scripture is not someone who is of deficient mental capacity but someone who is morally reprehensible. He may say all sorts of things outwardly but in his heart, out of which comes the issues of life, he is denying God. That is why such people are corrupt, do vile things and are incapable of doing anything truly good. This is seen more obviously in some than others but is true of all in fact. Although all know that there is a God, they seek to suppress that truth, saying in their hearts that there is no God. This is at the root of his inward corruption that in turn leads to vile deeds and to being incapable of doing anything truly good. It is only when the gift of faith is given to a man so that he trusts in God and is renewed within that he is able to stop doing what is vile and is able to begin to do what is truly good and pleasing to God.