Wow, what a morning I have had in Psalm 14 – Let me share that short chapter with you before we move on.
Psalm 14
For the director of music. Of David.
1 The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven
on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.
3 All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
4 Do all these evildoers know nothing?
They devour my people as though eating bread;
they never call on the Lord.
5 But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
for God is present in the company of the righteous.
6 You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is their refuge.
7 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
Have you ever wondered where doubts come from? We all have them, someone who has never struggled with the doubts that come to all believers has a faith about as deep as a puddle. Struggle helps us to concertize our understanding of who God is and how God behaves. Struggle is a good thing for those who trust and keep seeking the truth. For those who aren’t denying God because they are already living life at odds with Gods teaching and just looking for a way to justify what it is they want to do with their lives.
Verse 1 says, “The fool has said in his heart there is no God”
But then look at the next few lines. “Part of bringing doubt out of the shadows and into the light is to realize that doubting Gods existence is fundamentally at odds with what scripture teaches. “From the perspective of biblical wisdom,disbelieving in Gods existence or living as though God doesn’t exist – is the apex of arrogance and foolishness.”
What takes place in Psalm 114 is the character of those who say there is no God. They are corrupt, none of them do good, they have turned away from God, they are evildoers. In other words, evil actions lead a person not to believe in God. The fool is the finished product of those who have followed their own evil desires and actions. It was following their own desire that led them down the road to this destination of “fool.”
“It is very rare that people explore all the options intellectually and objectively and come to a head – only belief that there is no God.” “People don’t typically think their way into doubting; they act their way into doubting.” Talbot Davis
Doubt justifies disobedience.
If you remove God from the equation, it is much easier to do whatever it is you want to do without accountability.
But if you look at the later part of verse 5 and then verse 6 you will see that God is the refuge of the righteous. All through the Bible God asks people to follow without knowing how and when things will happen in their favor. But they always have Gods promise.
Moses was asked to leave his home and family to go and ask Pharaoh to set God’s people free. He didn’t get all the details of how that would work, he was asked to follow and the comprehension followed. Noah was asked to build a boat without the details of how it would all work out but Noah followed and his comprehension followed. Jesus did the same with the disciples in the New Testament. Jesus said follow me and they left their jobs and even their families and followed Him and in the end their stories are still being told around the world 2000 years later.
If you have doubts, that’s not a bad thing. Choose to follow God and take Him at His word and you will come out stronger in the end.
Pastor Ronnie