Psalm 36

To the choirmaster. Of David, the servant of the LORD

1 Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; [in my heart] there is no fear of God before his eyes.

The psalm begins with words of wisdom, a statement about reality that is foundational to understanding humans and human history. There are various ways of translating this verse, but whether it is God speaking (an oracle) or whether it is transgression speaking, the truth is that we are prone to sin. The temptation to evil lures us from deep in our hearts. It doesn’t matter how good you are or how long you have followed the LORD, temptation to evil is always there. This is why it is in the prayer that Jesus taught us, “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil”. To ignore this reality and assume that everyone is basically good, they just need more education to know what the good is folly. This remains a dominant view of progressive thinking today: we can make a better world if we get the right people in charge and if we can educate everyone on what to do. The problem of sin still remains: the “right people” will still sin and even though people can be educated in what they ought to do, they will still willfully do what they shouldn’t. This ancient wisdom has been proven so many times that one would think it wouldn’t need to be defended, but it does. The root of sin is a lack of acknowledgement of God -- “there is no fear of God before his eyes.” Sin begins when we tell ourselves, “no one will ever know.” There is no God and if there is, He’s not watching me and He will not judge me. There are various manifestations of sin that follow this belief, and they are stated in the following verses, but they are all rooted in pride. If we are to bring any change to this world it will be through living life as if God were watching, as if our conduct and our words mattered for all of eternity. Abandon respect for a higher authority and you become an authority unto yourself and we fall into anarchy. “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). Substitute the word “God” for “king” in that sentence and you’ve got the same mess. Our calling is to listen to the voice of God that counters the voice of transgression that speaks deeply to our hearts. And then we are to be that voice to others who are enslaved by their pride. 

2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.

3 The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good.

4 He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil.

The root of sin is pride, and while this psalm describes a wicked person who seems to be the antithesis of the psalmist, there is some of this character in all of us. “He flatters himself in his own eyes.” In general, everyone thinks they’re better than other people, or at least they’re not as bad as “that guy”. This is why we love to compare ourselves to others. There is a lot of this on social media including a great deal of virtue signaling where we feel better about ourselves because of something we’ve said or liked. Then of course this belief is affirmed when others “like” what we’ve said. It’s also a way of dividing us into various groups with similar beliefs, the virtual signaling demonstrated which group we belong to. This is accompanied by a belief that our group is morally superior to the others. It is all a ruse. Furthermore, he believes that “his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.” My suspicion is that the guy who most flagrantly broadcasts his upstanding moral character or virtuous social position also has some secrets that would shame him and cause him to be hated by the same adoring public. Our public claims to be moral betters are often shields for private corruption. This routinely happens in the public arena with politicians, CEOs and celebrities, so you know it’s happening elsewhere. This duplicity between public persona and private behavior is also evident in the mismatch between his words and deeds. His words “are trouble and deceitful”. Deceit is used to cover something up. It can even involve technically speaking the truth while lying in actuality. Believing that his iniquity is hidden from God and others, he learns to speak deceitfully to hide it from others while ceasing to act wisely and do good. This behavior continues both day and night. The phrase “on his bed” suggests that even when he is not active physically he is still thinking of what he can do that is evil. He has set himself up in a way that is not good. In other words, this doesn’t end well. The final descriptor is haunting: “He doesn’t reject evil”. When the temptation to do evil knocks on the door, he opens it and invites it in. Because of his pride he may think, “I can handle this.” “No one will ever know.” “I can use my words to make sure that no one ever finds out.” “I can do this in the privacy of my home, on my bed and night, and no one will ever know.” He has ceased to act wisely and do good. It’s easy to picture other people in this description. There is a lot of obvious wickedness in the world. But it’s more helpful to see ourselves because we are all capable of this. Left to ourselves we will follow in the path of our predecessors in the garden. Pride, deceit, and a failure to reject that which is evil -- especially if we convince ourselves that God is not watching and thus there will be no reckoning.  

5 Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.

6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD.

The psalmist makes an abrupt shift in theme to these four statements about the nature of God. The expansiveness of God is contrasted with the small world in which the unbeliever lives. In his personal world, everything revolves around him. He is the center of his attention, and this makes for a small life, a life that is disconnected from the grand narrative of what God is doing in the world. God’s steadfast love is measured in cosmic terms, what we describe today as light years. As our knowledge of the cosmos has grown through scientific discoveries so does our worship. David saw the unreachable night sky and related it to the infinite quantity of God’s faithful love. We have now reached the moon and our solar system with space probes only to find that the universe is infinitely larger than we thought. So it is with the love of God. We think we’ve got an idea of the vastness of his love and then he opens our eyes to greater breadths of grace. God’s love and faithfulness are measured in the same way you might measure the distance from yourself to the stars, an incomprehensible number. That’s good because this world needs a lot of love right now. God’s righteousness and judgments seem to be linked as his faithfulness and love are. His righteousness is like the mountains of God and his judgments like the great deep, accenting a vertical measure once again but with an addition. Mountains represent strength, dependability, firmness, resolve, the unchanging nature of God’s justice and goodness. While also being an infinite measure, the “great deep” represents the unknown. You can’t see more than a few feet down in the ocean, and we now know that it goes down for miles. We can’t begin to comprehend the vastness of the surface of the ocean, let alone the amount of water it contains and the life that is found in the great depths. God’s judgments, his ways are deeper than we’ll ever understand. They get murky when we are only a couple of feet in and they go for miles beyond that. We can trust such a mysterious God when we are confident of his nature that we can see -- his love, faithfulness and goodness. The metaphors for these are all things that we can see -- heavens, clouds, mountains -- even though their distance is impossible to measure. “Man and beast you save” tells us that God cares for his creation. This is not salvation -- the idea that all people and animals go to heaven. Rather this is the good life on this earth, God’s general grace for his creation.

7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

8 They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.

9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.

These verses elaborate on the “man and beast you save” line from the previous verse. This is how God saves us. Because of his steadfast love, which is a precious thing, the sons of Adam take refuge in the shadow of his wings. Like a chick in its nest, we are protected from danger by the loving care of a parent. Hopefully every child has had that experience of being protected by a parent, being held in strong arms and soothed by a reassuring voice. It was one of the greatest privileges of my life to be that parent that shadowed children under my wings. In addition to protection, believers experience a real feast. Living in God’s home not only means we’ve got his protection, but we have access to his resources. We feast on the abundance of his house, (it’s a big, big house, with lots and lots of room, a big, big table, with lots and lots of food). These words echo the confidence of David in Psalm 23:5 - “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows”. Not only is there an abundance of resources, but there is genuine pleasure and joy as we drink from the river of delights. Not a bottle, not a wineskin, not a creek bed that only fills after a rain, but a river -- a constant source of life and refreshment. Like a spring-fed stream, this river is always available to us and is the source of life in the spirit. Jesus declared himself to be the water of life and promised the Holy Spirit to resource us with life in the same way, streams of living water flowing out of us. This water not only nourishes us, but it becomes a source of life to others as well. The final metaphor in the passage is that of light. In God’s light we see light. Knowing God and seeing the world through his eyes as revealed in his word gives us understanding that the unbeliever does not have. The path of the righteous is like the light of day that grows brighter and brighter (Proverbs 4:18). Drinking in the life-giving truth of God day after day helps us to see ourselves, others and the world more clearly, giving the believer wisdom and freedom that the unbeliever does not have. “There is no fear of God in his eyes” (verse 1). He doesn’t believe in God and so he doesn’t see things clearly. Blinded by pride and unbelief, he stumbles and harms others in his frantic grasping at things. The psalmist is creating a strong contrast between the life of the believer and the unbeliever, inviting us to enjoy God’s steadfast love expressed in his protection (shadow of his wing), his provision (feasting), pleasure (river of delights), and perception (in your light we see light).

10 Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart!

11 Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

12 There the evildoers lie fallen; they are thrust down, unable to rise.

David’s declaration of praise becomes a prayer in these final verses. He prays that God’s steadfast love and righteousness would continue to those who know Him and align themselves with His ways. This is a recognition of God’s sovereign will as he alone gives love and goodness to whom he chooses. Our role in receiving God’s love and goodness is two-fold: know God and maintain an upright heart. Knowing God means both knowledge of Him, His ways and commands, and His character and nature through study of His word. It also implies a relationship with him as the Hebrew word suggests knowing through experience, the same word that is used elsewhere of sexual intimacy. Psalm 139 describes the in-depth knowledge that YHWH has of us, and here we are called to seek the same of Him by walking with Him. This is typified by the presence of an upright heart. Our relationship with God should continually change us in such a way that our hearts are more like his -- good, just, loving -- all the attributes of the nature of God should be becoming ours as well as we invest in our relationship with Him. The result of this investment is that God’s love and goodness are maintained in our lives. Verse 11 is a prayer stated in the negative. Don’t let the arrogant trample on me and don’t let their hand drive me away. Foot and hand -- the two primary appendages of action that humans possess -- both are engaged here by the proud to put down and drive away the upright. This brings us full circle to the opening verses of this psalm. The person who has no fear of God not only finds themselves in conflict with God but also with God’s people, with those who strive to know God, keep his commands, and be conformed to his image. A life without God is a life of conflict. Much of the trampling on and driving away of people has been done by those who don’t believe in God or at least don’t act like they believe in God. Human history is filled with leaders and nations who have put a boot on the necks of their citizens. They’ve driven them into ghettos and even out of the borders of their countries. This is always the end of atheism if it is followed to its logical conclusion. If there is no God, there is no judgment. If there is no judge, then I am the judge and I can do whatever my power will allow me. Being by nature selfish, I will climb to the top of the pile of humanity, stomping on anyone I need to to get there. This is the history of countless totalitarian regimes. 3,000 years ago, David offered a better way: know God and be upright in heart. “The evildoers lie fallen, thrust down unable to rise.” Be confident of this in a world of turmoil. God’s love is steadfast and faithful. His judgments are right. Good will triumph over evil. God will triumph over evildoers. The evil person who is stepping on your neck and pushing you around will be judged and you will be vindicated. Make sure that you are on God’s side, striving to know Him and conform your heart to his nature.