February 1: Psalm 14

Today's reading. Happy February, everyone. One month down, eleven more to go!

The psalmist pulls no punches here. The verdict of the Lord with regard to the human race is pronounced without hesitation: "Guilty."

At first, it seems as though the verdict will extend only to "the fool" (14:1). He exists as if God does not. Though God sustains his every breath, he breathes curses at the Lord. But we cannot identify one group of people as "fools," for in the space of two lines, we are told that no one does good. The Lord looks down across the globe and finds that "there is none who does good, not even one" (14:3). On our own strength, we are every bit as much in the "fool" camp as everyone else on the planet.

Just the other night I was telling someone that so much of my sin can be traced back to the fact that I do not remember. I don't remember who I am (a child of God); I don't remember who my Father is; I don't remember what it cost Him to make me His. If I could only remember these facts every moment of every day, I would cease to sin in dozens of ways. So much of my sin comes from my tendency to fall into the default mode of my sinful nature which says "there is no God." 

If only I could remember. If only I could remember that the latter half of the psalmist's prayer has been answered. If only I could remember that the Lord is my refuge, that salvation has come for God's people out of Zion, that in Christ the Lord has restored his people's fortunes (14:6-7). If I could remember more today to rejoice and be glad in the Lord my salvation, perhaps I would be slightly less the fool that I am prone to be.

I agree with this Word that I am among the "none who does good." But in Christ—who alone is good (Mark 10:18)—I can hope in his salvation and in the power of the gospel to change my foolishness day by day.