Psalm 14

Psalm 14 and Psalm 53:1-6 (NRSV)

1 Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is no one who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
who seek after God.
3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse;
there is no one who does good,
no, not one.
4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon the Lord ?
5 There they shall be in great terror,
for God is with the company of the righteous.
6 You would confound the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is their refuge.
7 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.
[1]

Dear Lord,

Lord, the number of Americans who say, “There is no God” is a tiny minority. Everybody believes in God. Or, everybody believes “that there is a god.” There are few unbelievers here!

What we have forgotten is that You have an ethical agenda. We have so made religion a matter of personal comfort, which it is, and personal salvation, which it surely is, that we have forgotten that you are the God who passes judgment on ethical behavior. And should we think of the ethical dimensions, we immediately default to the issues of abortion and homosexuality. We used to worry about adultery and fornication, and living together without marriage, and out-of-wedlock children but those behaviors have become so commonplace that we no longer ponder the moral implications.

So, we believe “that there is a god” , which according to the book of James makes us the spiritual and moral equal of the devil but we do not believe that You have an ethical agenda and the morality that we do honor has been so diluted that it never gets in the way of our primal impulses.

We Americans believe that “there is a god” but we don’t believe that there is “a god” to whom we should pay attention. Regular and systematic worship, personal and private devotions, deeds of compassion, a driving desire that “justice will roll down like waters” full participation in “The Body of Christ”, all of that has been ignored.

It seems that we have taken just enough “god medicine” to inoculate ourselves against the real thing!

Are there not many faithful believers? Of course there are. Thank God! But Lord, there are many American fools who have found an American way to say “There is no God.”

Lord, God, grant that we may know you in the fullness of your being. Give us your comfort and grace and reveal to us the depth of your commitment to the righteous and the poor. Help me to believe that some day, in some way, you will make it right for those who have been trampled down by the circumstances of life and for all who have been faithful.

I believe. Help my unbelief.

PERSONAL PRAYERS:

Ask God to help you to know all of God that you can know.
Rejoice in the reality that we walk with many who are faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
Name 5 things for which you are grateful and say “Thank you” to God.
In Christ’s name,
Amen.

[1] The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1996, c1989. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.