Psalm 36
This psalm is abruptly broken into two parts. The first part is called an oracle. This oracle is obviously from God about the sinfulness of the wicked. The first four verses describes the evil person in certain terms. First of all,he has no fear of God. Not simply being scared or having terror, but absolutely no respect or reverence for Him. The reason for not having fear of God is because he has placed himself on God's throne. Self-deception and self-flattery has so infected the mind of the wicked that actual sin goes unnoticed. I can't help but compare this passage to the many who claim that their homosexuality is not sin, despite Scripture to the contrary. He has so deceived himself that he does not feel convicted of sinfulness. There is quite a step between seeing sin in oneself and not doing anything about it and being unable to see sin as sin. It happens over time and with much self-delusion.
The evil person speaks ill of others. The situation gets to the point where he can no longer even do good because his motivation is bad in everything he does. Night and day he plots evil, which contrasts with the righteous man of Psalm 1 who meditates on God's Word day and night. The sinful man chooses the course he takes, accepting the wrong as if it were right.
At verse 5, the tone shifts and David contrasts the evil person with God Himself, and those who take shelter in Him. The poetry of verses 5 and 6 describe God's love, His faithfulness, His righteousness and His justice. Of note, a God cannot be said to be faithful unless He communicates to us. He could not be faithful if He made no promises to live up to.
Those who trust God are then satisfied in His unfailing love. They drink from His river of delights, or joy. They have access to the fountain of life itself, and see light in the light of God. The allusion to light is particularly striking because of the way Jesus used the symbolism of light in His ministry. For that matter, Jesus talked about heaven as "entering into life" according to Matthew's Gospel, and how often does John talk about the unfailing love of God?
God is our shelter from the storm of the wicked.
The evil person speaks ill of others. The situation gets to the point where he can no longer even do good because his motivation is bad in everything he does. Night and day he plots evil, which contrasts with the righteous man of Psalm 1 who meditates on God's Word day and night. The sinful man chooses the course he takes, accepting the wrong as if it were right.
At verse 5, the tone shifts and David contrasts the evil person with God Himself, and those who take shelter in Him. The poetry of verses 5 and 6 describe God's love, His faithfulness, His righteousness and His justice. Of note, a God cannot be said to be faithful unless He communicates to us. He could not be faithful if He made no promises to live up to.
Those who trust God are then satisfied in His unfailing love. They drink from His river of delights, or joy. They have access to the fountain of life itself, and see light in the light of God. The allusion to light is particularly striking because of the way Jesus used the symbolism of light in His ministry. For that matter, Jesus talked about heaven as "entering into life" according to Matthew's Gospel, and how often does John talk about the unfailing love of God?
God is our shelter from the storm of the wicked.
posted by rev-ed @ 3:19 PM
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