Psalm Meditation 1343 ¶Fourth Sunday in Lent ¶March 15, 2026 ¶Psalm 53 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2070&version=NRSVUE ¶In Hebrew, the word ‘fool’ is much deeper than the standard English usage. It is not simply one who is stupid or silly, it is someone who is morally and ethically bankrupt, whether intentionally or not. Those who do not acknowledge the presence of God are not simply slow they are, in this case, actively evil. They may find and make ways to justify their actions to their own satisfaction, however God and the psalmist know that these fools are evil and perverse. ¶The way I read this psalm is that God is looking at humanity and asking if any of the fools have any wisdom that will lead them back to the presence and influence of God. It seems that every one of the fools has walked away from God, rather than taking a step in the wrong direction that they will willingly fix once they realize the error of their current way. While the psalmist believes that God will destroy these evil folks, I am convinced that God simply allows them to continue in the path that will lead them to destruction, even as God is willing to help any and all of them to return to the way of God. ¶God offers each of us abundant life without forcing it on us. Abundance does not always mean fame and fortune, sometimes it means realizing the wealth of friends and family that buoy us up in times of trial. It is the willingness and ability to see the hand of God in every situation, accentuating the positives without ignoring the negatives. A life of abundance allows us to see where we have enough to spare and share it with others whose needs match our places of abundance. ¶March 9, 2026 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1193 ¶Fourth Sunday of Easter ¶April 30, 2023 ¶Psalm 53 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+53&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶It is easy to pass judgement on those with whom we disagree. These days we can find folks on any side of a question ready to brand those with whom they disagree as fools, and worse We brand others as deluded sheep who follow along innocently behind leaders we see as wrong. One way to look at this is to imagine a favorite book, play, or movie as if it were told from the other side of the action. Suddenly, your favorite protagonist is now the villain when the story is told from the perspective of those we have so readily despised in the original version. As we are able to do this, we begin to see that things are not always as cut and dried as we would like them to be. ¶The psalmist says that God looks on us and wonders if there is any wisdom at all among those made in God’s image. The psalmist sees ’those people’ as the ones God plans to reform or destroy, however we each have attitudes and behaviors that could use adjustment, especially in our dealings with those with whom we disagree. It is interesting that we see ourselves as on the side of God and ’those people’ on the side of evil. In a play about the American Civil War, there is a scene in which two generals readying to face each other on the battlefield pray the same prayer that God will be will ’us’ and help us to destroy ’them.’ ¶As we begin to cast judgement on those with whom we disagree, we do well to pause and ask ourselves if they have any goodness on their side. Are we guilty of some sin in the past that they are finally in a position to avenge? Have we judged someone as evil when they are simply different? Is God on our side alone or does God love them as intensely as God loves us? Is it possible that God would rather teach us to wring the evil out of ourselves than pick which one of us deserves to be eradicated from the presence of God? ¶April 24, 2023 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 973
Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
February 10, 2019

Psalm 53
1 Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they commit abominable acts; there is no one who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.
3 They have all fallen away, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.
4 Have they no knowledge, those evildoers, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon God?
5 There they shall be in great terror, in terror such as has not been. For God will scatter the bones of the ungodly; they will be put to shame, for God has rejected them.
6 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion! When God restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.
(NRSV)

When things are not going well for us it is tempting to believe that the whole world stands against us. It is more than this particular situation, this particular set of adversaries out to get us; everyone and everything is out to get us. If we have been part of a group who has held a majority of power for a long time, we feel threatened when that majority position shows the first signs of shifting away from us. We go from being able to lord it over others to feeling attacked and victimized by all who question our position and authority. We feel justified in being comforted by this psalm.

It is important to consider the possibility that we have been the ones doing the victimizing, that we are the ones who will be in great terror as we bump into the judgment of God. It isn’t, as the psalmist claims, that we have said there is no God, it is that we have concentrated on a definition of God that does damage to the people God values. The people God values are the downtrodden, the oppressed, and the forgotten. God rarely stands with the powerful and influential. God stands with those who cry out for and work for God’s justice.

The psalmist is among those who are oppressed, downtrodden, and forgotten by the rest of the world and voices a legitimate and heartfelt cry for help from God. The difficulty comes when we assume the status of the underdog because someone has questioned our voice of authority. Though we can justify the righteousness of our position, and the feeling of oppression, there is no guarantee that we are correct in our assessment of the situation. God is in our lives leading us to wisdom, righteousness, and justice.

February 4, 2019
LCM

Psalm Meditation 698
All Saints Sunday
November 3, 2013

Psalm 53
1 Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they commit abominable acts; there is no one who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.
3 They have all fallen away, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.
4 Have they no knowledge, those evildoers, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon God?
5 There they shall be in great terror, in terror such as has not been. For God will scatter the bones of the ungodly; they will be put to shame, for God has rejected them.
6 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion! When God restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.
(NRSV)

I know some very intelligent people who do not believe in God. They are convinced that if something cannot be proved by scientific method, it is not true. Ever since the Enlightenment folks have gone through the mental, philosophical, theological, scientific gymnastics to either prove or disprove the existence of God. The arguments have given us some interesting ‘proofs’ as to why and how God either does or does not exist. It was in response to the Enlightenment that folks came up with bibilical literalism; if the Bible is not 100% true and error free, then it is completely false. Sadly, this argument came from folks defending the existence of God.

I know this is not the kind of fool to whom the psalmist refers. The psalmist means the folks who act as if there is no God, no one to call them to account for their actions within the community. They act against both God and the community standards of behavior. For the psalmist there is no distinction between the standards of God and the standards of the community. The fools of the psalm are those who flaunt their bad behavior because they have the resources to ignore their upbringing in the community.

I do agree with the psalmist that those who do not believe in God are foolish. They refuse to see that there may actually be an entire broad sphere of existence that is beyond proof. They limit themselves to those things that can be proved and conjectured through scientific method and miss those things that are only available to those willing to take the leap of faith. The cool thing about faith is that it cannot be proved or independently tested in any way. People of faith offer the proof of their own lives and the difference their faith makes in how they face the events of a day.

October 28, 2013

Psalm Meditation 643
Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 14, 2012

Psalm 53
1 Fools say in their hearts, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they commit abominable acts; there is no one who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.
3 They have all fallen away, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.
4 Have they no knowledge, those evildoers, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon God?
5 There they shall be in great terror, in terror such as has not been. For God will scatter the bones of the ungodly; they will be put to shame, for God has rejected them.
6 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion! When God restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.
(NRSV)

Somewhere between no God at all and the God of great terror is the God I know. Though we are sure that we have a complete picture of who God is for us and for others, we are probably mistaken. Our understanding of God is colored by our pre-conceived notions of who and what we believe God to be. God is likely so much bigger than our ability to understand, that we can fit all the statements about who God is throughout human history into the reality of God and still have room for new ideas about God.

God is bigger and broader than our ability to comprehend. If we could definitively categorize who God is and what God does in a given situation, we would have a God that is way too small to meet us where we are. Our concept of God is always tempered by what we bring into God’s presence. When we come angry, our God is angry and out to get all who dare to disagree with even the smallest of divine decrees. When we come to God seeking peace we discover a God who gives us comfort and the energy to bring peace to others despite the obstacles. It is the same God, it is who we are that determines what part of God we see.

Because we tend to find that which we seek, our picture of God will be tempered by who we are and what we bring into our relationship with God. The anger of God is a part of God, the peace and comfort of God are a part of God. I am most comfortable with the God of relationships, who brings what we need at any given time into our life together. Love and comfort, as well as anger and judgment are just a few of the characteristics God brings into the relationship with us. What we feel from God, what we find in God will be tempered by who we are and what we bring to the relationship at any given moment.

October 8, 2012