Psalm 14

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

 ¹The fool has said in his heart,

“There is no God.”

They are corrupt,

They have done abominable works,

There is none who does good.

²The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men,

To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.

³They have all turned aside,

They have together become corrupt;

There is none who does good,

No, not one.

⁴Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge,

Who eat up my people as they eat bread,

And do not call on the Lord?

⁵There they are in great fear,

For God is with the generation of the righteous.

⁶You shame the counsel of the poor,

But the Lord is his refuge.

⁷Oh, 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.

Commentary

Vs. 1 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.

To deny God in heaven who created everything and everyone, who also sustains everything and everyone in the universe and beyond is to only be the ultimate fool. For it is to Him that all of living creation are responsible too, and will give an accounting of themselves. Now as this Psalm reveals this supreme folly of unbelief of the fool begins in their heart and then works itself out from there. And so, first they convince themselves that there is no God, that there will not be any accounting for what they conceive and do, and then they set about doing and pursuing all that their depraved hearts and minds desire. For when ones says that there is no God in their hearts they by their own choice have then chosen to separate themselves from Him, to remove themselves from His moral guidance, salvation, and ultimately redemption. Now sometimes this happens very slowly and gradually, and sometimes rather quickly, but as one does so, one begins to lose their moral conscience, they begin to lose their sense of meaning and purpose in this life, and so they begin to lose their desire to be socially and morally responsibility towards their fellow human beings. For when God ceases to exist in their heart then it doesn’t really matter to them what one says and does to others, because without God in heaven now restraining them, they themselves will now become their own “god,” and live by and do whatever their own lessoning and degenerating consciences desire to do. Thus, they will do wicked works, they will do abominable and terrible things, just as every sinner unleased does. And so, as this becomes the growing trend in society, society is faced with only two options, turn back from their wicked works and ways, or continue on in them, growing more and more headstrong and hardened in them. Which is how this world will hasten its own end, not through man made environmental disasters (i.e., climate change, though these will increase where man rules himself and lives for himself for his own greed and desires), but through the moral change. For when humanity collectively casts off God, and that with now full knowledge of Him through the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, there can be but only one end! For just as that was the end and undoing of ancient Pharaoh in Egypt in the days of Moses; and has been and undoing of everyone who also hardens themselves against God since; so that will be the collective end of this world, as God will increase His Judgments on it, just as He did in the days of Pharaoh. 

 Now from this Psalm the Apostle Paul in the N.T. rightly quotes from it in Romans chapter 3, to put all of humanity under sin, recalling that “there is none who does good, no not one” (Rom. 3:10). For that is the cry of Gospel that all people everywhere are sinners. That all people in every generation are born into Adams sin, and thus all people everywhere are in need of God’s salvation, (which is first the Atonement of our sins through the Lord Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross, then the regeneration, i.e., rebirth of our person, of our being born-again by God’s Holy Spirit, by our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, by His Holy Spirit in us, because by His Resurrection from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ has conquered death for us all who believe in Him, and thus He Himself has made the way for everlasting life to be given to us by His Holy Spirit, which God poured out into this world after Jesus Ascended forty days later back to heaven to take His seat on His Throne which His Father has prepared for Him. And so now He waits until all His enemies are made His footstool before He begins His everlasting Reign! “For the wages of sin is death…”, that is universal, “…but the gift of God is eternal life by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 6:23), that though is not though universally applied, but it is universally offered and available to all, and is given to everyone who believes in Him! For when Adan sinned, he first died spiritually, and so he along with Eve his wife both died spiritually, and thus they became separated from God because of their sin. Therefore, since we all are descended from them, we are all also born into that sin, and thus that Spiritually dead state, born into this world separated and alienated from God as well, and thus in need of His salvation, and thus in need of His reconciling us to Himself, which He has now done and we can now have by our own faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Vs. 2-3 ²The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men,

To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.

³They have all turned aside,

They have together become corrupt;

There is none who does good,

No, not one.

Verses two and three then carry on this theme of humanities universal condemnation, that there is none who understands God, (or is even capable of understanding God in of themselves, for the worlds many depraved cultural practices and traditions, depraved religions and religious practices and teachings all prove this out, and so the charge is just). For there is none who understands Him, who seeks to know Him..., instead humanity down through the ages has turned aside from Him, and sought to built their own societies and cultures, and thus live their lives, independent of Him, thus they have all together become corrupt, they have all together gone astray. for apart from Him there is none who does good, no not one, everyone has mixed and corrupted motives. Therefore because of prevailing sin, and humanities propensities for it, we in of ourselves are not even capable of knowing Him and understanding Him as He should be known and understood, and that is in Holiness. Now we know that because of this (because our our own innate inabilities to do so) the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, came into this world as a Man, and brought what was once totally far off and completely impossible for us to do and attain too, to draw near too, and that is God Himself. He then has not only brought God near to us all, but He has also now given to us all a right and true understanding of God (John 1:17). For He is our Teacher, for He is God's Son and Chosen Prophet, He then is our only Lord and Savior! Verses one to three like so many prophetic passages in the Scripture speak then not just to an age or situation or circumstance then, (of humanity having  turned aside, turned to their own vices and devices and sought to build their societies and live their own lives apart from Him) but as is often the case, God through them is conveying to us, through His prophets, His Word and truth for us all.

Vs. 4-5 ⁴Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge,

Who eat up my people as they eat bread,

And do not call on the Lord?

⁵There they are in great fear,

For God is with the generation of the righteous.

It is then the workers of iniquity who do not believe, who set themselves against God, who then turn against His people. And as they do so they only become more and more emboldened in their ways as they seek to destroy every remembrance of God by seeking to destroy His people. These then do not repent and believe, (call on the Name of the Lord), as is offered to every sinner, but they only store up great wrath and judgment upon themselves! For God is fully aware of them all, and He at His appointed time will bring their own fear and end to fruition. “For God is with the generation of the righteous.”

Vs.6 “You shame the counsel of the poor,

But the Lord is his refuge.”

Such is their pride that they only scoff at the counsels of the poor, of those who are meek and humble, of everyone who sees their own need and repents and believes!

Vs. 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.”

In closing there is a great declaration and desire for the future glory of God, of His finial Deliverance and Salvation of all of His people. At that time all of Israel will rejoice and be glad as these will be God's finial people to experience His Salvation and Deliverance!

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.