Psalm 14: The Fool Says, There is No God

[] Square brackets are used in place of footnotes/endnotes.

This is a community prayer [Note: It is not a community lament (as ESV), because there is no such thing. I think Kraus is correct when he says: “the concept of LAMENT must be abandoned. The petitioners of the psalms do not lament, neither do they complain. They openly declare their DISTRESS before YHWH and PRAY for His intervention. This is justly called a PRAYER.] in which the people of God mourn the fact that humans do not seek after God and oppress God’s people. It is almost identical to Psalm 53.

Here is the outline of the psalm as given by ESV! [I haven’t studied this psalm in depth yet, so I am relying on ESV for this post]. It has 3 major parts.

Ps. 14:1-4 – The Godless Devour God’s People

Ps. 5-6 – The Lord is the Refuge for the Poor

Ps. 7 – Community Prayer for SALVATION

Think about the following as you study and meditate on this psalm:

1) How do you understand the ‘fool’ [Hebrew naval (not nabal, but the connection with Nabal remains)] in this Psalter? See also Psalm 10. [Note that there are three Hebrew words for fool, and all speak of moral orientation rather than intellectual ability.]

2) Is there a connection between “not knowing the Lord” and oppression?

3) When you look around you and see injustice and godlessness, how should you proceed in light of this Psalm?

For excellent resources on the Psalter I always recommend Spurgeon’s The Treasury of David and Matthew Henry. More info will appear toward the end of the week as I continue in my study of this passage!

Many blessings and joy, Cristian

When Distress Seems Endless

We are continuing this year our preaching through the Psalter. Since I do not plan to preach through all the psalms (it would take too long) I have to be selective. I find that one of the most difficult issues is choosing which psalms to skip - as all of them can teach us some very important truths about God and ourselves.

After much thinking and praying I decided that this Sunday (January 29, 2012) we will be looking at Psalm 13. The plan is to continue with psalms 14, 15, and 16 - all of them very important for teaching and living.

I am posting here a Teaching Outline from Steve Lawson's Holman Old Testament Commentary on the Psalms. While I probably will not follow it closely in my message, it is useful to visualize the tripartite structure of the psalm (recognized by most commentators).

TEACHING OUTLINE

A. David's Sorrow (1-2)

1. How long will God forget? (1a)

2. How long will God hide? (1b)

3. How long must I be discouraged? (2a)

4. How long must I be defeated? (2b)

B. David's Supplication (3-4)

1. Remember me, God (3a)

2. Rescue me, God (3b-4)

C. David's Singing (5-6)

1. I will rely upon God (5)

2. I will rejoice in God (6)

QUESTIONS for discussion:

1) How does this psalm resonate with you? Have you ever felt this way?

2) How can a believer remain steadfast through difficult times?

3) How do you understand/define the ‘steadfast love’ (ESV)/ ‘mercy’ [Hebrew – chesed] of God in verse 5?

Here is a great quote from Spurgeon:

“Whenever you look into David’s Psalms, you will somewhere or other see yourself. You never get into a corner, but you find David in that corner. I think that I was never so low that I could not find that David was lower; and I never climbed so high that I could not find David was up above me.”

Thank you for your prayers and for your daily living of the Psalter!

Your teaching pastor, Cristian